A judge has untied former reality TV contestant and ex-footballer WAG Arabella Del Busso after she pleaded for an early release from jail due to “brutal” media attention.
The 33-year-old lingerie model appeared in court via video link from a western Sydney women’s prison on Wednesday and watched as her lawyer argued she had been unfairly targeted by the media.
Del Busso, who only gained media fame after lying to her ex-boyfriend, rugby league star Josh Reynolds, about her pregnancy, was appealing against the severity of her 20-month jail sentence for stealing $52,000 from her employer.
The former SAS Australia contestant watched in prison green as her lawyer, Jehane Ghabrial, complained that Del Busso had been subjected to “public humiliation” by the media and argued for a suppression order.
But New South Wales District Court Judge John Pickering was having none of that, replying: “To be honest, she has pursued him.” She got into a reality show. She appeared on national television.
“No one forced her to join the SAS.”
Disgraced NRL football WAG and reality TV star Arabella Del Busso is making a desperate bid to get out of jail two months after her sentence for stealing $52,000 from her employer.
Del Busso, 32, is locked up in Australia’s largest women’s prison, in Sydney’s western end.
In a lively exchange, in which Mr Del Busso blinked rapidly as he listened, Ms Ghabrial responded: “Just because someone is on national television doesn’t mean they’re inviting (people) to destroy their life… it’s like “continually have a wound.” open.’
Judge Pickering disagreed. “That’s debatable,” he said. ‘Isn’t that exactly what you’re looking for?
‘In a case that is dominating the media right now, the case of Mr. (Bruce) Lehrmann, that is exactly what happens.
‘SAS… It’s the type of program that people look for to increase their profile. He has also tried to exploit it for his own profile.’
Ms Ghabrial: ‘It is a matter that had nothing to do with Josh Reynolds. The media…keeps bringing that up…the reports are excessive about it.
Judge Pickering: ‘When you appear before a criminal court, aspects of your character are assessed.
‘The reality is that these are crimes of dishonesty and there are aspects of that story that are dishonest.
‘We live in a world of Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. Some people are private, some are public, some are looking to continue… (work on) their profile.’
His Honor will announce his decision on Wednesday afternoon on whether to grant a reduction to Del Busso’s 12-month minimum sentence.
His lawyers are asking for a correctional order that would allow Del Busso to leave prison and serve his sentence in the community.
The court heard that upon entering prison, prison authorities had immediately placed her in a protective area, classifying her as ‘SMAP’, which stands for special management area placement prisoner.
This classification is for inmates whose profile may attract unwanted attention or even attacks from other inmates.
His lawyer argued that this was an additional problem of being in jail, since SMAP inmates were only allowed into the main jail yard during lunch hours.
WhatsNew2Day Australia has also learned that the glamorous ex-WAG is leading a prison yard fitness workout with other women while locked up at the 531-inmate Dillwynia Correctional Center in Sydney’s northwest.
Del Busso was jailed on February 13 for stealing $52,000 from Rheumotology Specialist Care, where she worked as a receptionist at its offices in Kogarah, in Sydney’s south, and Randwick, in the city’s east.
After spending a few nights at Silverwater Women’s Correctional Center in western Sydney, she was assigned to serve her sentence in Dillwynia (pictured) and transported in a prison van to the facility 56 kilometers from Sydney.
She pleaded guilty to two counts of theft as an employee between September 2019 and February 2020.
Magistrate Hugh Donnelly sentenced Del Busso to a minimum of 12 months behind bars for what he described as an “appalling breach of trust.”
After spending a few nights at Silverwater Women’s Correctional Center in western Sydney, she was assigned to serve her sentence in Dillwynia and was transported in a prison van to the facility 56 kilometers from Sydney.
Del Busso’s lawyer, Andrew Stewart, told WhatsNew2Day Australia that Del Busso had hoped to get a reduced sentence because she was remorseful and was “trying to turn her life around.”
”It is not very pleasant for anyone to be in prison. “She’s trying to get as much support as possible,” she stated.
Del Busso has been adjusting to life in prison, which includes spending about 17 hours each day in his three-by-five-meter cell, meals served on an aluminum tray, and associating with inmates serving time for violent crimes.
Del Busso (pictured) has been adjusting to life in prison, which includes spending about 17 hours each day in his three-by-five-metre cell, meals served on an aluminum tray, and associating with inmates serving time for crimes. violent.
However, Del Busso is understood to be using his fitness experience and knowledge to keep fit and show other inmates exercise routines.
“She is doing everything she can to help other inmates,” Mr. Stewart said.
‘Keeping fit, helping inmates who have a number of problems, making sure you eat, making sure you shower.
“She has expressed her regret and has repaid what she was ordered to pay (about $30,000) with the money she saved and was saving and prize money from boxing.”
Upon arrival at Dillwynia, the only women’s facility clustered with two men’s prisons at the Francis Greenway Correctional Complex, Del Busso received a package that included a toothbrush and toothpaste, soap, a plate, bowl and cup. , and a roll of toilet paper.
Anything other than prison clothing is considered contraband.
While inmates were previously strip-searched upon arrival, this now generally only occurs if a prison X-ray scanner identifies contraband hidden on an inmate’s person.
When she was taken to her cell, which has only a thin, vinyl-covered mattress, Del Busso received a meal prepared at the adjacent men’s prison, the Geoffrey Pearce Correctional Center.
Their meals include packaged salads with cold cuts and hot meals with shredded fish, chicken wings and chicken schnitzels to be eaten with plastic cutlery.
Under the New South Wales prison system’s so-called Bangkok Rules, Del Busso has been encouraged to keep in touch with family or friends through weekly visits and landline calls from the jail’s common areas.
Additionally, inmates have access to a tablet every day during the afternoon lockdown and are allowed to make outgoing calls from these devices until 10 p.m.
Under what are known as the Mandela Rules, Del Busso has also been given access to confer with his legal advisors.
Stewart said Del Busso was looking for “a return to normality, getting back to work and his boxing career” when he was released from prison.
‘She’s definitely nervous (about his attractiveness), but she’s had time to reflect. She’s sorry.’
The one-time glamor model gained notoriety after her relationship with then-Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs NRL star Josh Reynolds dissolved when it emerged she had faked a pregnancy.
In October 2020, she left the reality television show SAS Australia after being questioned about the relationship drama that had spilled over to the public.