A troubled former Home and Away star has slammed the ‘unjust’ perception that he’s just ‘just another child star’ who has ‘lost the plot on drugs’ after he was charged with assault.
Police allege Felix Dean assaulted his housemate on the morning of August 1 at his apartment in Botany Bay in an attack that drew blood.
He has pleaded not guilty to the allegations and is due to fight the charge during a hearing in the Local Court on November 4.
The 27-year-old faced the NSW Supreme Court on Friday to apply for bail after spending just under three months behind bars on remand.
Representing himself, the former actor argued against the idea that he was just another casualty of toxic childhood fame after he got his big break in Home and Away at age 10.
‘It appears to everyone else … that I’m just another child star who has hit the drugs and life just carked it and I’m impulsive and a danger to the community,’ he said.
‘That is far from the truth.’
In a 30-minute address to the court about his conditions, Mr Dean revealed he has been to jail five times but maintained ‘no one has ever been physically hurt’ by his offending.
‘Clearly, your honour, drugs aren’t the problem. Drugs are a solution,’ he said.
‘Sometimes they’ve helped me and they’ve probably helped me in my criminal matters because I haven’t had the full capacity in my right mind of being stressed and angry to hurt anyone.’
The former child star told the court he has ‘really addressed’ his drug addiction and hasn’t used drugs intravenously in the past two years.
He revealed he has been subjected to a stringent financial management order that restricts him from accessing his own money and provides him with a stipend of $150 a week.
‘All of this offending, especially in the last few years … has been a direct response to this financial management order,’ Mr Dean told the state’s highest court.
‘All of my offences have been because I feel absolutely helpless.’
The 27-year-old told the court he needed to be released on bail so he could fight to be removed from the ‘restrictive’ order.
He said he had been subletting a room in his apartment to the alleged victim, who he met at a poker tournament, in a bid to supplement his weekly income.
The former actor claimed there were ‘inconsistencies’ in the alleged victim’s account of the ‘argy bargy’, which was apparently recorded.
He alleged that blood found on the man’s pillowslip had been there prior to the alleged assault, but he couldn’t get a ‘clear answer’ from the housemate about where it came from.
Mr Dean’s bid for bail was opposed by the Crown prosecutor.
Justice Tim Faulkner found the 27-year-old had not shown why his detention was unjustified and refused to grant bail.
Mr Dean will remain in custody until he returns to the Local Court to fight the charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
The setback comes after a tumultuous couple of years for the former actor, who has been in and out of jail for the past four years.
He achieved national fame at the age of 10 when he was cast in Home and Away as ‘VJ’, the on-screen son of Leah Patterson, played by longstanding cast member Ada Nicodemou.
Mr Dean starred on the Channel 7 show for three years, and earned nominations for Best Young Actor at the 2008 and 2009 Inside Soap Awards for his work.