‘Deeply troubling’ concerns for Orpheus Pledger’s mental health raised during appeal against jail sentence for assault

A troubled former Australian actor will not spend another day in jail after he appealed a seven-month term of imprisonment for two “disturbing” assaults. Orpheus Pledger, 31, on Tuesday appeared in the Victorian County Court where he was instead placed on a two-year community corrections order with treatment, monitoring and 150 hours of unpaid work. The ex-Home and Away star swapped the black hoodie of his last court appearance for a clean-cut look, sporting a purple check shirt, clean shave and his hair tucked back in a bun. He did not react as the new sentence was announced, although members of his family present in the courtroom were visibly relieved. Pledger was arrested on March 26 after twice attacking a woman in her own home. The second attack was captured in part by a motion-activated camera, with Pledger dragging the woman by the hair to the ground and stomping on her head. She was found by police still on the ground 15 minutes later and taken to hospital. The 30-year-old actor was taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital on Monday for a court-ordered medical assessment for his mental health. He led police on a three-day manhunt after fleeing from hospital the following month after he was released on bail to undergo a medical assessment due to custody backlogs. Nurses at the hospital described him as “quite elevated” and heard him muttering that he was going to “kill”. Pledger pleaded guilty to charges including recklessly causing injury and unlawful assault and was sentenced to seven months imprisonment to be followed by a 12-month community corrections order. But after re-hearing the evidence on appeal, Judge Michael Tinney found recognising the 97 days Pledger spent on remand as time served and a “far lengthier and tougher” community corrections order would meet the sentencing objectives. He told Pledger the violence on display in the video was condemned “in the strongest terms” but clearly occurred in the context of his declining mental health. “It is disturbing, it is serious and it’s pretty incredible that you would conduct yourself in this way,” he said. “It’s you, it’s not an actor, it’s you doing that to your victim.” Pledger nodded as Judge Tinney said it appeared to him there was a link between his drug use and his deteriorating mental health. “It seems, if I may say, so the last couple of years you have been drifting … that coincides with the use of drugs,” the judge said. Judge Tinney said the most recent report from Pledger’s bail monitors noted several concerning issues. Pledger, the report noted, had missed several appointments in the past month and was exhibiting behavioural changes, including being overly talkative, speaking off topic, 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 troubled” by the development, noting a forensic psychologist had found Pledger was at an increased risk of reoffending if he relapsed into drug use. “His relevant functioning had deteriorated to the extent it’s described as concerning,” he said. “I don’t know if you’re using illicit drugs, but I do know there’s being a significant deterioration in the lead-up to this court case.” Pledger began acting at age 9 in commercials and on children’s series Silversun before landing a stint on Neighbours in 2011. He later took 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. Judge Tinney urged Pledger to take advantage of the chance he’d been given to get on with his life but warned any breaches of the corrections order could lead to a return to jail. Pledger, sporting a baseball cap and face mask as he quickly left court, declined to comment. Previously, his lawyer Jasper MacCuspie said Pledger “feels terrible” about what occurred and the impact of the offending on the woman. Domestic violence helplines