A former Home and Away star who led police on a three-day manhunt is expected to appeal after he was sentenced to jail.
Orpheus Pledger, 31, returned to the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Friday wearing a black hoodie, where he was sentenced to seven months of imprisonment by Magistrate Justin Foster.
‘This court does not and can not allow the use of drugs to explain violence against women,’ Mr Foster said.
‘It now transpires you mostly minimise your involvement and blame the victim.’
Last month, Pledger pleaded guilty to charges of recklessly causing injury and unlawful assault, relating to two attacks on a woman in March during a suspected mental health crisis.
The court was told the woman called police at 1.35am on March 25 amid fears for Pledger’s mental health, with the line disconnecting after she said; ‘he’s here’.
Officers arrived 15 minutes later to find the woman injured and unable to get off the floor.
She was taken to hospital where doctors observed multiple bruises to her face and neck, with ‘diamond-shaped’ bruising on her cheek matching the sole of Pledger’s shoe.
Pledger (pictured) was a mainstay on Home and Away before leaving the role in 2019
Parts of the attack on the woman including dragging her by the hair was captured by CCTV
A motion-capture camera screwed into a light bulb captured part of the attack, with Pledger seen dragging the woman by the hair and stomping on her head.
The court was told Pledger had previously assaulted the same woman on March 1, punching and kicking her when she confronted him about his drug use and erratic behaviour.
He was released on bail in late April to undergo a medical assessment but fled after waiting in the Royal Melbourne Hospital for 6 ½ hours prompting a manhunt.
Nursing staff later described him as ‘quite elevated’ and told police he had said he was going to ‘kill’.
Pledger was rearrested in the Melbourne suburb of Reservoir on April 25 and returned to custody.
Orpheus Pledger (right) arrives for sentencing at the Melbourne Magistrates Court, in Melbourne, Friday, August 16, 2024
Pledger was then released on bail to live with his jazz musician father in northern Victoria in July after spending a total of three months in custody.
Mr Foster had expected to sentence the former TV star on July 3, but instead said it was appropriate to adjourn the case for six weeks to allow community corrections to prepare a report into Pledger’s ‘complex needs’.
His lawyer Justin MacCuspie told the court his client’s recreational drug use escalated and the actor’s mental health had deteriorated after he was refused a role on US series The 100.
‘He certainly feels terrible for what has happened and the impact it’s had,’ Mr MacCuspie said.
‘Overall, in my submission, he’s done everything he possibly can to prove to Your Honour he’s addressing the underlying causes that brought him before the court.’
But Mr Foster said it was now known Pledger began using drugs six years earlier, and denied missing out on The 100 had a significant impact.
‘Its just what happened,’ the court was told he said.
‘Your mental health deteriorated because of drugs rather than any underlying issue,’ Mr Foster said.
‘The actions of stomping… was unacceptable in any way shape or form.’
The former TV star said he wanted to get himself ‘straightened out’ upon release and had aspirations to make music
Pledger is expected to appeal the jail sentence and said he feels terrible for what happened
Pledger began acting at age 9 in commercials and on children’s series Silversun before landing a stint on Neighbours in 2011.
He would later take the role of Mason Morgan in Home and Away from 2016 to 2019 and most recently appeared as a contestant on SAS Australia in 2022.
Pledger was sentenced to seven months imprisonment and ordered to be placed on a 12-month community corrections order upon his release.
Mr Foster said he understood Pledger would appeal.
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