Australian actor Orpheus Pledger has been sentenced to six months behind bars for a series of court order violations. His latest sentencing comes after he successfully avoided jail time for two assaults, which included stomping on a woman’s head.
Per The Herald Sun, the former Home and Away star was re-sentenced on Monday to a non-parole term of six months, minus 127 days served, after violating conditions of his parole order.
In August 2024, the 32-year-old was initially sentenced to seven months’ jail time and a 12-month community corrections order in Victoria after pleading guilty to assault and recklessly causing injury over two attacks that took place on March 25, 2024.
However, the actor successfully appealed his sentence in November 2024, reducing his sentence to a two-year community corrections order by County Court Judge Michael Tinney, The Herald Sun reports.
On Monday, ahead of his re-sentencing, the same court heard that Pledger had violated his parole order by continuing to use drugs, such as methamphetamine and cannabis, as well as 19 unexplained absences.
The court also heard that the former Neighbours star was arrested on June 23 and was taken to the hospital after returning to the victim’s house, who then called emergency services.
entenced 6 Months Jail
Tinney also said the actor had taken a “casual approach” to the order, adding that he was “ducking and weaving” around drug tests, adding that Pledger had claimed “a cookie he bought from the side of the road” was what led to his positive result on a cannabis test.
The Herald Sun also reported the court heard he’d reduced his antipsychotic medication without consulting a doctor.
When Pledger’s defence lawyer claimed the actor didn’t understand the serious nature of the order, Judge Tinney said he’d warned him of “mucking around on the order”.
“He has frittered away his opportunity on the order and placed himself back in the dock of the court,” Tinney said, per the publication.
Pledger had been acting since he was nine, appearing in shows like Neighbours and The Secret Life Of Us. He later became more widely known through his role as Mason Morgan on Home and Away from 2016 to 2019.
