Serial conman Kane Dallow makes a punt to stay out of jail after scandalising the courts

The Federal Court of Australia heard Dallow “appeared to be unemployed” and any court-imposed fine would have been paid by his husband.

SERIAL fraudster Kane Dallow has made a bid to avoid his nine-month jail sentence after publishing “grossly defamatory” videos about Liberal politician Michael Ferguson.

On Wednesday, his lawyer Kamal Karunadasa appeared in the Federal Court of Australia via video link, applying for leave to appeal.

He argued before Justice Stewart Anderson the sentence was manifestly excessive and “arbitrary”.

“It’s highly ambiguous and a complex situation,” he said.

But Justice Anderson pushed back against that suggestion.

“I don’t accept the evidence was not clear. The evidence was crystal clear about what your client did,” he said.

Dallow was found guilty earlier this year of four counts of contempt of court, including one count of scandalising the court, after intentionally disobeying orders by the Federal Court of Australia over the publication of four videos on his website and YouTube, and jailed for nine months.

In the fourth video, he made claims the courts provided a “a ring of protection for anyone that is involved in parliament”.

Kane Dallow

Kane Dallow

The 40-year-old Legana resident has a series of prior convictions for dishonesty matters.

The Mercury previously reported he has a 20-year rap sheet, including one instance where he served a short stint in jail for scamming a Sisters Beach woman out of $5000 by pretending to work for a Channel 7 television program and selling her an advertising package.

He is currently attempting to challenge his sentence, not his conviction, over the contempt matters.

Lawyer Jessie Sawyer, acting for Mr Ferguson, said Dallow hadn’t made any submissions about why a fine might be more appropriate than jail time.

She said Dallow appeared to be unemployed and financially supported by his husband, who would have paid any court-imposed fine.

“It would not have been appropriate for His Honour to impose a fine, because by all accounts it would not have been Mr Dallow that would have paid that fine,” she said.

Ms Sawyer said the statements on the videos were “grossly defamatory” and of a serious nature.

“To suggest a court gives a ring of protection to members of parliament is scandalous in the highest category,” she said.

Justice Anderson said he reserved his judgment, which he will hand down at a later date.

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