- Orpheus Pledger appealed against the prison sentence
- The court heard he showed worrying behavioral signs
A troubled former Australian actor has shown worrying behavioral signs, including grandiosity, while on bail for assault, a court has been told.
Orpheus Pledger, 31, appeared in the Victorian County Court on Tuesday to appeal a seven-month prison sentence imposed in August for twice attacking a woman in March.
The ex-Home and Away star swapped the black hoodie from his last court appearance for a purple checked shirt and appeared to have cut and shaved his hair.
His lawyers have asked Judge Michael Tinney to sentence him to a community corrections order and count the 97 days he spent in custody as time served.
But Judge Tinney commented on reports from Pledger’s bail monitors, saying the “wheels appear to be falling off”.
Pledger, the report said, had missed several appointments over the past two months and exhibited behavioral changes, including being overly talkative, off-topic speaking, grandiosity and euphoria, and had self-adjusted his medication.
He denied he had relapsed into drug use, the court was told, but had not been tested.
Judge Tinney said he was “deeply disturbed” by the development, noting that a psychiatrist had found Pledger was at increased risk of reoffending if he relapsed into drug use.
A troubled former Australian actor has shown worrying behavioral signs, including grandiosity, while on bail on assault charges, a court has been told.
Orpheus Pledger, 31 (right), appeared in the Victorian County Court on Tuesday to appeal a seven-month prison sentence imposed in August for twice attacking a woman in March
“His relevant functioning had deteriorated to the extent that it is described as concerning,” he said.
Pledger was arrested in March after assaulting a woman twice that month.
One of the incidents was partially captured by a motion-activated camera, with Pledger dragging the woman to the ground by her hair and stomping on her head.
He was released on bail in late April to undergo a medical assessment due to concerns about his mental health, but fled, sparking a manhunt.
The 30-year-old actor was granted bail on Monday and was taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital on Monday for a court-ordered medical assessment for his mental health.
Earlier, the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court was told nurses at the hospital saw him muttering that he was going to ‘kill’.
Pledger pleaded guilty to recklessly causing injury and unlawful assault, with his lawyer explaining that Pledger’s drug use had escalated in recent years.
“He certainly feels terrible about what happened and the impact it has had,” attorney Justin MacCuspie said.
One of the incidents was partially captured by a motion-activated camera, with Pledger dragging the woman to the ground by her hair and stomping on her head.
Pledger started acting at the age of 9 in commercials and in the children’s series Silversun before landing a role on Neighbors in 2011.
He later took on the role of Mason Morgan in Home and Away from 2016 to 2019 and last appeared as a contestant on SAS Australia in 2022.
Judge Tinney will rule on the appeal on Tuesday afternoon.