Richard Pusey calls upon bizarre character witness list

Pusey has requested a bizarre character witness list to vouch for why they should be freed, asking a judge to “give me the paints” to paint a picture of their character.

Porsche driver Richard Pusey has sought to call a child murderer, a dead killer, a dementia patient and even a doctor’s receptionist to vouch for why they should be freed from jail.

During a last ditch bid for bail, the driver whose speeding sparked the deadly Eastern Freeway crash called on the Supreme Court to release copies of horrific videos and photos that depicted four dead and dying police officers.

They were the same images for which Pusey was behind bars for allegedly disseminating.

In a bizarre court appearance, Pusey - who previously said they identify as non-binary with the pronouns they/them - asked a judge to “give me the paints” to paint a picture of their character.

Pusey asked for 60 people to either give evidence or produce documents in their bid for freedom, including killer Gregory Keith Davies who raped and murdered six-year-old Kylie Maybury in 1984.

Eastern freeway Porsche driver Richard Pusey asked the judge to “give me the paints” to paint a picture of their character. Picture: Jason Edwards

Asked by Justice Lesley Ann Taylor why Davies should be called, Pusey replied, “because he’s a real animal … he’s a representation of what jails are for”.

Pusey called for an ice-fuelled killer, who they named as Scott Murdoch, from Melbourne Assessment Prison (MAP) to give evidence.

A man of the same name, convicted of murdering mum Kylie Blackwood, was found dead in his MAP cell last year.

Pusey claimed a doctor’s receptionist could give evidence about their “shock” after the crash, and called on an elderly prisoner with dementia that they had been “nursing”, and a cabinet maker whose brother was interviewed by A Current Affair for a 2016 story about Pusey as “Australia’s nastiest customer”.

Justice Taylor refused Pusey’s requests for 31 people to attend court to give evidence, including 11 prison guards who Pusey claimed would say “only good things” about the driver, including that they were “courteous … respectful, appreciative, caring”.

Asked by Justice Taylor what Pusey was going to say to persuade Her Honour to give them bail, Pusey replied, “the truth” before she asked, “the truth about what?”

Audible sounds of swallowing echoed around the court in a 60-second silence before Pusey replied, “If you give me the paints, I’ll paint a picture”.

Justice Taylor granted one request for a woman to address the court, who Pusey had lived with and would return to live with if released.

The hearing was told that the horror pictures were too sensitive to be attached to the brief. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Her Honour denied Pusey’s request that the body worn camera footage of late police officer Lynette Taylor depicting the crash scene and Pusey’s “shock” be released, along with graphic images.

The hearing was told that the horror pictures were too sensitive to be attached to the brief of evidence, and that Pusey would not be allowed to have copies of them in jail, but the photos would be included in a folder in the court.

The Porsche driver asked that documents not be served to them in-person by police, claiming “every time I see a police officer I don’t want to say what images I see, please”.

Pusey has been charged over allegations they attached crash scene images to a November complaint to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority over their rejected claim for their damaged Porsche, and in a February Google review of Porsche Centre Melbourne.

They were remanded on February 8 over two charges of using a carriage service to cause offence and two charges of committing an indictable offence on bail.

Pusey’s bid for bail in May was refused amid police fears they would continue to share the graphic images following refusals to hand over device passwords, with the application now running in a higher court.

Pusey had been stopped on the freeway by police officers Glen Humphris, Kevin King, Lynette Taylor and Joshua Prestney, who were killed when a drug-affected truck driver crashed into them on April 22, 2020.

The hearing continues on Tuesday.