Richard Pusey could be released this week after pleading guilty to string of new charges
Porsche driver Richard Pusey could be released from custody this week after pleading guilty to a string of charges including the assault of a woman.
The 43-year-old was jailed for 10 months – mostly time already served in custody – in April for filming officers who died after being hit by a truck while pulling over his Porsche on Melbourne’s Eastern Freeway last year.
Pusey, currently held at the Metropolitan Remand Centre, on Monday faced an online hearing at Melbourne magistrates court, where he pleaded guilty to assaulting the woman at a Fitzroy home in December.
He also pleaded guilty to using a carriage service to menace a Westpac Bank employee during a series of messages in August 2019 that followed a credit card dispute.
In the late night messages Pusey called the bank worker a “f***wit c***” before making sexual comments about their wife and a reference to their daughter’s second birthday.
Pusey’s barrister, Carmen Randazzo SC, said he had remained in custody for nearly four months since his April sentencing.
Randazzo argued that Pusey should, for these separate offences, be sentenced to time served and therefore released immediately.
She said he could become a “contributing member” to society if he committed to therapeutic treatment, despite ongoing concerns regarding alcohol consumption.
“If he remains under supervision then he is quite capable of remaining offence-free,” Randazzo said.
Prosecutor Meagan McDonnell argued that Pusey should be subjected to a community corrections order if released from custody this week.
Alternatively, McDonnell said the 43-year-old should receive an extended jail term.
Magistrate Hayley Bate said the community corrections order was not appropriate after Randazzo said her client would not agree to it.
Earlier, Pusey asked Bate for a “hamburger with the lot” after the magistrate used the phrase to describe a media application for court documents.
“I’d like a hamburger with the lot and all the extras on the side, please miss,” Pusey said.
Bate will sentence Pusey on Wednesday.