A popular Melbourne busker known as Statue Man was accused of fraud for claiming transport accident payments while also collecting coins from pedestrians in the CBD.
But the long-running and elaborate investigation by the Transport Accident Commission fell over when he successfully argued his busking was for therapeutic reasons and not financial gain.
Melbourne busker Luke McIntosh outside Ringwood Magistrates’ Court.Credit: Eddie Jim
Luke McIntosh was originally charged with 79 fraud and dishonesty offences in 2018 after the TAC hired private investigators covertly to film the street performer as he stood motionless in Bourke Street Mall.
A former stuntman, the 38-year-old had spent four months in hospital after a motorcycle crash in 2011 left him with serious lacerations and fractures to both legs and his forearm.
In 2013, a TAC assessment determined McIntosh had a physical impairment of 50 per cent, which entitled him to ongoing payments for loss of earning capacity.
However, TAC investigators discovered in 2017 that McIntosh had been moonlighting as Statue Man and their inquiries with Melbourne City Council revealed he had held a busking permit since August 2013.
McIntosh during a performance in Bourke Street Mall.Credit: YouTube
The TAC investigation also found he was granted a much-coveted permit to perform in Bourke Street after sitting an audition in May 2014.
Two private investigators, who were employed by the TAC to shadow McIntosh, secretly filmed him performing in September 2017. The video footage was played during a three-day hearing at the Ringwood Magistrates’ Court in February, when both investigators gave evidence.
“The client stood still like a statue, until people would put money in his sack and he would move into another position,” one of the investigators told the court.
“His movements were slow and controlled. Purposely controlled because that’s his persona. He’s very talented, I must say.”
McIntosh was accused by a TAC prosecutor of making a series of misleading representations to doctors that he was unable to stand for extended periods of time, which also prevented him from participating in a retraining program to become a painter.
However, most of the prosecution was suddenly abandoned when the busker and his legal team agreed to a deal to have all but one of the charges dropped.
McIntosh appeared in court again this week when he pleaded guilty to a single charge of providing misleading information to the TAC, relating to a claim in September 2017.
His barrister, Damien Hannan, told the court the remaining case against his client could be characterised as “trivial and trifling”.
Hannan submitted there was a distinction “between the motivation for standing for employment purposes and the motivation for his [McIntosh’s] standing, which I would describe was for therapeutic purposes”.
“This was a form of meditation, and he describes his mental state as being entirely different to that of everyday life,” Hannan told the court.
Magistrate Justin Foster agreed there was a “therapeutic element” to McIntosh’s busking, before striking out the final charge.
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