Guy Sebastian, Titus Day case: Fresh delay in ex-manager’s trial

The man in charge of the embezzlement trial of Guy Sebastian’s former manager says he is “troubled” by a failure to resolve key issues in the case.

Titus Day is alleged to have embezzled almost $900,000 in performance, royalty and ambassador fees owed to the singer.

The 49-year-old former agent to the stars has pleaded not guilty to dozens of charges laid against him and claims Mr Sebastian owes him money.

Mr Day’s trial, which began six weeks ago in the NSW District Court, was due to continue on Thursday but after more than four hours of the talks between the prosecution, defence team and Judge Tim Gartelmann SC, jurors were told to go home for the day.

Details about the nature of the talks cannot be revealed because the jurors were kept out of the courtroom.

When jurors returned shortly before 2pm, Judge Gartelmann said he was sorry they had been “waiting so long”.

“During the period since you were last here we have been continuously dealing with legal issues,” he said.

“It is not uncommon for legal issues to arise around the time of closing addresses and summing up in a trial. The longer and more complex the trial the greater the likelihood that legal issues will arise and the longer they will take to resolve.

“I’m troubled to say that unfortunately despite us attempting to resolve the issues continuously for many hours now, they remain unresolved.”

Judge Gartelmann said he was confident the trial could continue on Friday and he expected jurors would be in a position to consider their verdicts early next week.

“Please do not draw any inference against either party because issues have arisen … you should not speculate about the issues that have arisen,” he told the jury.

“Any speculation that you engage in would probably yield the wrong answer in any event.”

After the jury heard evidence from Mr Sebastian, his wife Jules, bookkeepers, the police officer in charge of the investigation and various entertainment industry figures, the Crown prosecutor David Morters SC commenced his closing address which concluded on Wednesday.

Mr Day’s barrister Dominic Toomey SC is next due to give his closing address to the jury.

The latest delay is one of several to have plagued the trial since it started in early May.

The first Judge in charge, Peter Zahra SC, died shortly after the trial commenced.

At the same time, Mr Sebastian caught Covid and could not give evidence for seven days while he was isolated.

Another delay was caused in late May when a juror became ill.

Mr Day and Mr Sebastian first started working together in 2007 when they were both linked to the 22 Management agency.

In 2009 Mr Sebastian became Mr Day’s marquee client when he left 22 Management and started his own talent management business, 6 Degrees.

The pair had a bitter falling out in 2017 and afterwards, the court was told that Mr Sebastian allegedly discovered “anomalies” which led to a Federal Court case, the involvement of police and laying of criminal charges against Mr Day.