A court has heard how a former Home and Away heartthrob descended into drug use after losing a role on a US television show before brutally assaulting a woman.
Orpheus Pledger, 30, appeared before the Melbourne Magistrate’s Court via video-link from prison on Monday to plead guilty to a range of offences relating to the attack at a home in Melbourne in the early hours of March 25.
The vicious assault was captured by a motion-activated camera owned by Pledger which showed him grabbing the victim’s hair and throwing her to the ground before stomping on her head.
Images of the woman’s injuries from the attack show bruises on the side of her face that bore a ‘similar resemblance’ to the sole pattern of Vans sneakers he owned.
The court heard that Pledger had a successful acting career which peaked with 339 episodes in popular soap opera Home and Away.
But he suffered a devastating blow to his career when a role on a US television show fell through at the 11th hour, and sent the actor into a downward spiral.
Pledger started associating with an ‘antisocial’ crowd and using methamphetamines recreationally which he admitted in court was effecting him at the time of the attack.
Melbourne Magistrates’ Court has heard how former Home and Away heartthrob Orpheus Pledger (pictured) descended into drug use before brutally attacking a woman
The victim called Triple Zero warning police Pledger was in the midst of a mental health incident shortly before the assault, the court previously heard.
She was heard saying ‘he’s coming’ before the line cut out.
Police arrived 15 minutes later and found the woman lying on the ground while Pledger was nowhere to be found.
He was arrested two days later and remanded in custody until April 15 when he was bailed for one day to receive a mental health assessment at the Northern Hospital.
A police prosecutor told the court on Monday that Pledger warned hospital staff that he was going to ‘kill’ the victim on multiple occasions.
He then fled the hospital, after waiting about six hours for a consult, and returned directly to the victim’s home.
The court heard that when a family member told him he needed to return to custody, Pledger replied: ‘Why? I haven’t done anything wrong’.
Magistrate Justin Foster fumed when hearing Pledger had escaped from the hospital, saying he ‘bent over backwards’ to approve the bail condition.
A three-day manhunt was launched before he was arrested again and officially refused bail and remanded in custody.
The court heard Pledger (pictured) then became engrossed with an ‘antisocial’ crowd and turned to using methamphetamines recreationally in the years before the attack
Magistrate Foster briefly voiced his frustrations over shortages in police, ambulances and mental health professionals to help assess prisoners.
Mr MacCuspie said his client had waited about 11 hours in remand before being escorted to the Northern Hospital where he was left in an ‘escalated’ state.
‘Even when he seeks those supports and accepts he needs them, they can’t be obtained,’ he told the court.
Mr MacCuspie added his client’s mental health had deteriorated in the 94 non-consecutive days spent behind bars.
He argued that Pledger had however never been diagnosed with a mental illness and the issue was therefore dependant on his drug use.
The court also heard that his drug use had escalated after losing the role but never ‘grew to full-blown dependancy’.
‘(Pledger) accepts that it’s something he has to get on top of,’ Mr MacCuspie told the court.