By Sarah McPhee
Guy Sebastian’s former manager Titus Day has walked from court after a third application to detain him ahead of his sentence for embezzling more than $600,000 of the pop star’s earnings was dismissed.
Day, 49, was found guilty by a jury in June of 34 counts of embezzlement, totalling $624,675. This included a $187,524 shortfall in what Day was supposed to send Sebastian for supporting Taylor Swift in 2013, and various amounts for royalties and corporate and wedding performance fees.
Prosecutors have made three attempts since Day was convicted to have him detained, under new bail laws, before his sentencing in mid-September.
The final attempt, in the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal, had been adjourned until Friday afternoon to allow Day’s lawyers more time to present additional material supporting his case.
Justice Fabian Gleeson, Justice Robertson Wright and Justice Richard Cavanagh heard further submissions and adjourned for a brief minute. Gleeson said, having considered the matter, the detention application was dismissed, and their reasons were reserved.
Day was hugged by his supporters outside court. Asked by the Herald whether he wished to comment as he left, Day declined.
Titus Day arrives at the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal to hear the outcome of a third detention application ahead of his embezzlement sentence.Credit: Nick Moir
During the hearing, two Corrective Services workers had walked into the courtroom in disposable blue gowns, face masks and gloves. Under COVID-19 requirements, fresh custody inmates are quarantined before entering the wider prison system.
The Crown had brought its application under section 22B of the Bail Act, which states that between conviction and sentence “for which the accused person will be sentenced to imprisonment to be served by full-time detention”, bail must be refused unless special circumstances are established.
Crown prosecutor Guy Newton had submitted on Monday that while the judges didn’t “have a crystal ball”, Day’s offending was a “flagrant breach of trust” and, on any reasonable assessment, would attract a jail sentence.
He said that the court did not need to be satisfied as a matter of certainty but on the balance of probabilities.
Day’s barrister, Dominic Toomey, SC, had argued there was a “reasonable possibility” of a sentence other than full-time imprisonment. He claimed his client’s matter was “not the ordinary case” of embezzlement in which a person “simply sought to enrich themselves”.
He said the court’s decision should not be determined “divorced from the view arrived at” by Judge Timothy Gartelmann, who oversaw the trial and refused the first application in the District Court.
“The tribunal undoubtedly in the best position to determine whether there will be a sentence of full-time imprisonment is the sentencing judge who has observed the evidence and the narrative unfold in this case over a period of some two months,” Toomey said on Friday.
Day managed Sebastian’s career from 2007 to November 2017, when the pair’s business relationship came to a hostile end, his trial heard.
After the verdicts, Sebastian released a statement of gratitude that the “painful chapter” was over.
“It was not only shocking but also heartbreaking to discover the depth of betrayal and dishonesty,” the singer said. “Titus was more than just my manager, he was one of my closest mates.”
Sebastian is set to headline a community open night at the new Sydney Football Stadium, also known as Allianz Stadium, on August 28.
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