Guy’s former manager fights conviction

Guy Sebastian’s former manager could be entitled to an acquittal after he was jailed for embezzling more than $620,000 of the pop singer’s earnings, a court has been told.

Titus Day was led away from court in handcuffs after learning he would spend at least 2½ years behind bars in November last year.

The 49-year-old was sentenced for swindling the whopping amount from the pop star and inaugural winner of Australian Idol after being found guilty on multiple charges by a NSW District Court in 2022.

Mr Day has now taken his fight to the Court of Criminal Appeal before three judges – Justice Hament Dhanji, Acting Justice Carolyn Simpson and Justice Julia Lonergan – and continues to deny any wrongdoing.

He appeared in court on Friday via AVL wearing his prison greens and reading glasses as his barrister Brett Walker SC told the court Mr Day’s appeal had three grounds.

Mr Walker said the first ground, which would acquit Mr Day if it succeeds, was that there was an unreasonable verdict based on the definition of a clerk or servant relationship with a master.

He argued Mr Day was not Mr Sebastian’s clerk, as he had a contract with Mr Day’s management company Six Degrees.

“What is clear, the Crown put a case that the agreement was with Six Degrees … it was Six Degrees and Six Degrees only was the collectors of moneys,” Mr Walker told the court.

“It was Mr Day’s involvement that had control over Six Degrees.”

Mr Walker also told the court the pop singer’s credibility would be questioned after he told the court during his evidence at trial that Mr Day had written an email that was sent from Mr Sebastian’s own email address.

He told the court this was an issue of dishonesty in the trial that “invited the jury to infer Mr Day authored this email” knowing he was wrongly embezzling money.

“The Crown having framed this in such a way as to put Mr Sebastian’s evidence … corroborated as it may have been … placed Mr Day front and centre where the jury is concerned,” Mr Walker said.

Justice Simpson questioned whether Mr Day would have been charged as an accessory if it was found the embezzlement was done by the corporation.

She said if the ground for appeal succeeds, Day would be entitled to an acquittal.

The second ground of appeal relates to whether a miscarriage of justice was occasioned from the Crown’s closing address, where there was an emphasis on the complainant’s failure to give evidence that allegedly influenced the jury.

Mr Walker told the court a “bold statement” was made in the defence opening argument that said: “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, there will be an answer to these charges.”

The court was told the jury then understood Mr Day would be called to give evidence; however, the defence chose not to use him as a witness.

When this decision was made, the court heard Judge Timothy Gartelmann told the jury “as a consolation the trial is going to end much sooner than you or I expected”.

Mr Walker said the Crown was “not capable of correcting the elaborate submission” where the jury understood “only Mr Day would be in the position to give answers to the charges”.

He said the Crown “well and truly” crossed the line.

“That is simply wrong and hollows out the right to silence, the right to not participate in a trial against you – it is in our submission unacceptable in this particular case,” he said.

A Crown prosecutor told the court the trial judge dealt with a number of complaints during the trial, including the wording of the defence and Crown arguments.

He said the prejudice was “not as bad” as Mr Walker suggested.

The third ground for appeal relates to whether the jury reached a verdict following undue pressure from a fellow juror.

Mr Walker told the court there was a measure of “conflict or tension or severe disagreement” in the jury room.

The length of the trial was extended by a fortnight due to unforeseen circumstances, including the death of the initial trial judge and Mr Sebastian getting Covid-19.

There were concerns about the behaviour of one juror who expressed anxiety about finishing the trial in time for an upcoming overseas holiday.

“The judge did nothing to allay the concern of the unjustified pressure,” Mr Walker said.

“There were in fact no words said to the juror or anything else expressing such anxieties which would allay the concern the case would not finish by a certain date.”

The prosecutor told the court the jury reached a number of different verdicts and the judge brought in the juror in question twice to assure him he would make his flight.

“It’s hard to see what the difficulty was,” the prosecutor said.

On June 30, 2022, the jury found Mr Day guilty and convicted him on 34 of 47 charges. He was found not guilty of a further 13 charges.

Mr Day was sentenced by Judge Gartelmann in November to four years in jail with a two-year, six-month non-parole period.

He was also ordered to pay more than $620,000 in restitution to Mr Sebastian.

The court was told he embezzled money from performances, including a tour with Taylor Swift and an ambassadorship with Dreamworld.

The jury heard a mountain of evidence from witnesses, including Mr Sebastian, his wife Jules, bookkeepers and the police officer in charge of the investigation.

Mr Day became Mr Sebastian’s manager in 2009, but the pair had a bitter falling out in 2017.

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

Mr Day responded with a counterclaim, alleging it was he who was owed money by Mr 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 jury found Mr Day had used some of the money owed to Mr 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 Mr Day sat on the board of the company at the time.