Inside Home and Away child star’s stunning fall from grace as his latest spiral into a life of crime is revealed
- Felix Dean was sentenced over assault
- Former child actor who starred on Home and Away
- He avoided jail despite being sentenced
The downfall of a former Home and Away child star has taken another sad turn after it was revealed he assaulted a friend’s dad and demanded $300 in cash.
Felix Dean was sentenced to prison on Tuesday for common assault following the clash with a friend’s father on October 21 last year.
Dean, who was homeless at the time of the attack, was also sentenced at Waverley Local Court in Sydney for breaching a community correction order.
The order had been given to him for kicking a police officer during lockdown and stealing an iPhone from a store worker.
However, he will avoid jail after his sentences were backdated and the judge gave him discounts for his mental health struggles and deprived background.
Felix Dean was sentenced to prison at Waverley Local Court in Sydney on Tuesday for common assault after he grabbed the arm of a friend’s father and demanded cash
Dean was just ten when he got his big break on Home and Away, acting alongside Ada Nicodemou as her on-screen son VJ Patterson
It is the latest brush with the law for Dean, who was just ten years old when he got his big break on Home and Away, acting alongside Ada Nicodemou as her on-screen son VJ Patterson from 2007 to 2014.
He began smoking cannabis aged 14 and moved onto ‘ice’ within twelve months, at first inhaling the potent drug and then injecting it.
Magistrate Ross Hudson said Dean struggled with major depressive order, PTSD and drug-induced psychosis.
His most recent assault was in breach of parole and several community correction orders.
Dean had been out of prison for a few months when he saw the man, whose son he went to school with for 11 years.
Felix Dean has fallen hard and fast since his days as a Home and Away child star
The magistrate said the assault came after three years of conflict.
‘The accused approached the victim from behind, yelling at him – the victim recognised him,’ Magistrate Hudson said, according to news.com.au.
‘The accused inquired about the whereabouts (of his son) … (and) told him (his son) owed him $300 for an undisclosed reason. The accused seemed agitated and demanded the victim give him money’.
Dean grabbed the man’s arms and demanded the money, with the victim threatening to call the police. Dean then left the scene.
Magistrate Hudson added: ‘I note an explanation given in an apology letter to court, Dean says ‘it is not lost on me that my actions have caused great deal of pain to my family’. I was homeless, drunk all time, living a chaotic lifestyle, addicted to methamphetamine’. He says he recognises the need to change path he’s on.’
Appearing via video link from custody, Dean put his head in his hands but appeared relieved when Magistrate Hudson said he could be released on parole to his mother’s home.
Addressing Dean on Tuesday, Magistrate Hudson said: ‘The mental health (issues are) there, you can’t deny it. You won’t get on top of things. You need to get rid of drugs from your life. (If you do), the feelings you’re trying to numb with drugs won’t necessarily be there’.
Dean was nominated for Best Young Actor at the 2008 and 2009 Inside Soap Awards For his portrayal of VJ. He disappeared from the spotlight altogether after the gig
Dean was first locked up for 86 days in 2021 before being released into the care of his mother under strict bail conditions.
He then spent 37 days at Gordon Private Hospital and was in effective home detention until his addiction got out of hand again in June.
Dean was jailed in October 2021 after he attacked a tobacconist with a hammer – the fourth time he had been arrested in two years.
Dean was nominated for Best Young Actor at the 2008 and 2009 Inside Soap Awards for his portrayal of VJ Patterson. He disappeared from the spotlight altogether after the gig.
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