Dennis Wayne Jensen fronts Supreme Court after giving illegitimate legal advice to an accused rapist

A fake lawyer has made a grovelling apology after he advised an accused rapist to break a court order.

Scales of justice and Gavel on wooden table and Lawyer or Judge working with agreement in Courtroom, Justice and Law concept.

A man who fraudulently posed as a lawyer and who advised a man accused of rape to breach an intervention order has told a Melbourne court he was “very sorry and remorseful” for his actions.

Dennis Wayne Jensen fronted the Supreme Court on September 28, after being found guilty of contempt of court in August.

In 2020, Jensen gave legal advice to an accused rapist to contact the alleged victim, telling the man not to “worry about the intervention order”.

Victorian Legal Services Board prosecutor Nicole Papaleo said Jensen’s actions “had been to the serious detriment” of his victims.

“Until today, he has shown total disregard for this court,” she said.

“His previous behaviour demonstrates a years-long pattern of misconduct, where he has given vulnerable people bad advice.”

Ms Papaleo said while Jensen’s actions had led to serious consequences for his victims, he had not “given a genuine apology or shown any contrition”.

Ms Papaleo cited previous orders against Jensen, banning him from giving both legal and medical advice, after he advised a woman with ovarian cancer to try alternate methods of treatment (using black salve) and to stop traditional treatment including surgery.

The woman later died.

“His culpability is high, and his behaviour is not trivial, fleeting or of low consequence,” Ms Papaleo said.

Jensen told the court the health “complaints” were made against him to “make him look like a bad person”.

“The patient had her own black salve (alternative topical therapy to treat cancer), and was using it for four years before she came to me,” he said.

“I helped her to administer is because she was desperate.”

Jensen said his legal advice for the accused rapist and his family was “a particular misjudgment”.

“My emotions overwhelmed me, I wish I had done better,” he said.

“I apologise for what I’ve done and for the people I’ve hurt. I never wanted to hurt anyone.”

Jensen claimed he was misled and “words had been put” in his mouth, and that he would “rather end my life than go through this again”.

“I’ve learnt my lesson, this last 10 months have been absolutely so stressful. If I had of known, I wouldn’t have done anything,” he said.

Justice John Dixon adjourned the matter, saying he “wanted to think hard” on what he had heard.