Phone pest put elderly couple through hell

Pair left distraught after sickening prank call

A Perth man phoned an elderly local couple in the early hours and claimed to be their son.

Thirty-year-old Ryan Rattray then put the horrified OAPs through hours of torment and anguish after telling them he had sex with a 15-year-old female amputee – and had locked the woman in the boot of his car.

The accused, who was sobbing and crying during the bizarre 10-minute call, then asked the elderly couple if he should “dig a hole in the garden,” Perth Sheriff Court was told.

“Both were extremely alarmed, thinking their son had harmed or had possibly killed the unknown girl,” explained depute fiscal Bill Kermode.

But the conversation turned out to be a sick joke which had subsequently been caught on video and posted on social media

Police didn’t take long to catch up with Rattray. Using the 1471 facility on the couple’s land line, they got his mobile number and quickly discovered it was registered to him at Raeburn Park.

And when officers examined the phone, they found the incriminating video of him making what he described as a “prank call.”

Sheriff William Wood told Rattray: “This is the sort of offence which, had there been any suggestion that this couple had been targeted in any way, would attract a custodial sentence.”

But he had been “persuaded – just” to impose a Community Payback Order as a direct alternative to a jail term because it had been a “random call.”

He will have to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work within the next four months.

Rattray admitted phoning the couple from his home on November 10 and making the terrifying claims, inferring that he had caused, or intended to cause, the teenage girl harm.

Sheriff Wood added: “This can only be described as despicable and persistent in its fabrication. You must have known it would have caused a continuing night of upset.

“It started with idiocy and ended with callousness.”

Mr Kermode said that the elderly woman suffered from anxiety and depression, while her husband was hard of hearing.

They have a son who lives in Australia but regularly keeps in touch by phone.

The pensioner got the call at about 1am and turned up the volume on the loudspeaker.

“He then heard a male voice saying: ‘I’ve f***ed up dad.’ The accused sounded upset and under the influence of alcohol or drugs.”

The pensioner immediately assumed the call was from his son and asked what he had done.

The caller then said he had sex with the girl and had locked her in the boot of his car.

The couple had to continually calm the accused down to “make sense” of what he was saying. They advised him to free the girl as she must have been “terrified.”

The accused then said: “Don’t tell Amanda.”

Coincidentally, that was the name of their son’s partner in Australia.

“Both witnesses were distraught and had to console each other,” explained Mr Kermode.

They didn’t want to phone the police at that point and the next morning contacted their son who told his relieved mum and dad it hadn’t been him who had contacted them.

The police were then alerted and Rattray was traced.

Solicitor Billy Somerville described the incident as “absolutely horrendous” but stressed the couple’s number had been picked at random.

They had spent some time believing their son was “in extreme trouble.”

The lawyer added: “He regretted what he did and was appalled.”

When he was taken to police headquarters, he didn’t want to watch the video.