A former Home and Away star has been granted bail to appeal his jail sentence for violently assaulting a woman whose head he stomped on before leading police on a three-day manhunt.
Orpheus Pledger, 31, was handed a seven-month jail sentence on Friday after he pleaded guilty in Melbourne Magistrates Court to four assault charges over attacks on the woman on two separate occasions.
Magistrate Justin Foster on Friday afternoon released Pledger on bail ahead of his sentence appeal in November.
Pledger, in the early hours of March 1, kicked and punched the victim in the face after she raised concerns about his drug use and declining mental health, the court was told.
He attacked the same woman on March 25, dragging her by the hair and stomping on her face.
The woman had called triple zero when he arrived at the property and when police reached the house, they found her lying on the floor in pain.
She was taken to hospital with multiple bruises and cuts to her face and neck, with the marks matching the sole of Pledger’s shoe.
The 31-year-old was arrested but bailed on April 22 on the condition he undergo a court-ordered mental health assessment. He absconded from a hospital the next morning.
A warrant was issued for his arrest, with the actor on the run from police for three days before he was remanded in custody again.
Pledger claimed his life spiralled out of control when he turned to drugs after missing a part in American drama show The 100, the magistrate said.
But Foster said Pledger turned to drugs six years earlier which he was confident contributed to the actor’s declining mental health.
In his sentencing remarks, he said Pledger could not use drugs as an excuse for the violence.
“Society is completely fed up with violence, fed up with domestic violence and fed up with male violence against women,” Foster said.
Pledger’s early plea of guilty, his act to save a woman from an attack in 2018 and the victim’s desire for him to get off drugs and turn his life around were taken into account by the magistrate.
After already serving 97 days on remand, Pledger has about four months left in his sentence – to be followed by a 12-month community corrections order.
But in the bail hearing, Foster expressed concerns over Pledger’s lack of insight and diminution of his offending, suggesting he had expected a community corrections order instead of a jail sentence.
With four months hanging over his head, the magistrate queried the risk that the actor would again skip bail to avoid more prison time.
Prosecutors opposed his bail, arguing an unacceptable risk to the woman’s safety and pointed to his bail non-compliance in April.
But defence lawyer Jasper MacCuspie said his second term on bail was positive and he was getting his life back on track.
“Back in April, he didn’t do so well,” MacCuspie told the court.
“But his compliance at the most recent period of time on bail has been without fault.”
He conceded there were a few issues Pledger needed to address but said they could be addressed in the community.
Pledger’s father, Timothy Pledger, told the court on Friday his son was working through his mental and physical struggles at home and committed to supporting him if he was bailed but would not hesitate to call police if he messed up.
Pledger appeared on Australian soap drama Home and Away between 2016 and 2019, and notched stints on SAS Australia in 2022 and Neighbours in 2011.
He will appear at Melbourne County Court for his sentence appeal on November 12.