Former Home and Away actor Orpheus Pledger successfully appeals against prison sentence for assault

He did not react when the new verdict was announced, although members of his family present in the courtroom were visibly relieved.

Pledger was arrested on March 26 after twice assaulting a woman in her own home.

The second attack was partially captured by a motion-activated camera, with Pledger dragging the woman to the ground by her hair and stomping on her head.

She was found still on the ground by police 15 minutes later and taken to hospital.

He led police on a three-day manhunt after fleeing hospital the following month after being released on bail to undergo a medical assessment due to custody backlogs.

Nurses at the hospital described him as “quite exalted” and heard him mutter that he was going to “kill”.

Pledger pleaded guilty to charges including recklessly causing injury and unlawful assault, and was sentenced to seven months in prison, followed by a 12-month community corrections order.

But after hearing the evidence again on appeal, Judge Michael Tinney ruled that he recognized the 97 days Pledger had spent on remand as time served and that a “much longer and more stringent” community corrections order would meet the objectives of sentencing .

He told Pledger that the violence seen in the video was condemned “in the strongest terms” but that it clearly occurred in the context of his declining mental health.

“It’s disturbing, it’s serious and it’s quite unbelievable that you behave like this,” 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 appears, if I may say so, that you have been drifting in recent years… which coincides with the use of drugs,” the judge said.

Judge Tinney said the latest report from Pledger’s bail monitors identified a number of worrying issues.

Pledger, the report said, had missed several appointments over the past month 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 forensic psychologist had found Pledger was at increased risk of reoffending if he relapsed into drug use.

“His relevant functioning had deteriorated to the extent that it is described as concerning,” he said.

“I don’t know if you are using illegal drugs, but I do know that there has been a significant deterioration leading up to this trial.”

Pledger started acting in commercials and children’s series at the age of 9 Silver sun before landing a stint Neighbors in 2011.

He later took on the role of Mason Morgan Home and away from 2016 to 2019 and last appeared as a contestant on SAS Australia in 2022.

Judge Tinney urged Pledger to take the opportunity he had been given to get on with his life, but warned that any breach of the corrections order could result in a return to prison.

Pledger, wearing a baseball cap and face mask as he quickly left the court, declined to comment.

Earlier, his lawyer Jasper MacCuspie said Pledger “feels terrible” about what happened and the impact of the crime on the woman.