Prosecutors attempt to have Titus Day imprisoned for the third time

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Guy Sebastian’s former manager will have to wait another few days before he learns whether he will be imprisoned after a third attempt by prosecutors to jail him.

Titus Day was found guilty by a NSW District Court jury and convicted of 34 charges, including the embezzlement of more than $620,000 of the pop singer’s earnings.

He faced the Court of Criminal Appeal on Monday where a Crown prosecutor applied for the 49-year-old to be detained.

It was the third time prosecutors applied to have the former manager imprisoned.

A Crown prosecutor told the court it did “not need to be satisfied as a matter of certainty that the respondent will be going to jail”.

He told the court if Day were to be sentenced to an Intensive Corrections Order to be served in the community, it would be an “inadequate sentence”.

“Your honours must be satisfied on the balance of probabilities that there will be no other sentence other than a full-time custodial sentence,” the prosecutor said, “given the very serious nature of the offences, which total frauds in excess of $600,000 in circumstances where there was a flagrant breach of trust.

“This is a matter that would, on any reasonable assessment, attract a sentence full-time custodial or full-time custody.”

Day’s defence barrister, Dominic Toomey, opposed the detention application and said there will be alternatives his client could face rather than full-time imprisonment.

Mr Toomey told the court the 49-year-old has no prior offences and is a man of good character.

“We will argue on sentence that this is not a case where the money that has been found to have been embezzled was used in the way one often seen in these cases where the person simply sought to enrich themselves,” he said.

“We will demonstrate that the money was used to meet expenses which were associated with performances by Mr Sebastian and there will be a lesser degree of seriousness than one ordinarily sees.”

Justice Fabian Gleeson, Justice Robertson Wright and Justice Richard Cavanagh adjourned the hearing to resume on Friday.

Day is currently on bail with conditions imposed by the District Court; he has surrendered his passport and must report to police at Waverley Police Station every Wednesday.

He faced a gruelling seven-week trial after he was accused of embezzling nearly $900,000 allegedly owed to the singer in the form of music royalties, performance fees and ambassador payments.

On June 30, the jury found Day guilty and convicted him on 34 of 47 charges. He was found not guilty of 13 charges.

A sentence hearing was set for September 16.

Day became Sebastian’s manager in 2009 when he started his own talent management business 6 Degrees. The court was told the two were close friends but parted ways after a bitter falling out in 2017.

Following the separation, Sebastian claimed he found anomalies in his financial records and launched legal action against his former manager to recoup the money he was owed.

Day responded with a counterclaim, alleging it was he who was owed money by Sebastian – a claim the reality TV show judge denied.

Both men continued to argue the other owed them money throughout the heated trial in Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court.

The court was told Day used some of the money owed to Sebastian – including about $187,000 from a Taylor Swift support act gig – to purchase shares on his behalf in a company called My Medical Records. The court was told Day sat on the board of the company at the time.

However, Day was acquitted of embezzling $39,000 from a British and Irish Lions rugby tour performance, and other sums of money ranging from $6000 to $39,000 and $125,000.

The lengthy trial was plagued by delays, including the death of the original judge assigned to the case, Sebastian’s Covid-19 diagnosis and health emergencies.

Originally published as Prosecutors attempt to have Titus Day imprisoned for third time



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