Local case for Matthew Newton adjourned

A Sydney magistrate has adjourned the local case against Matthew Newton for about three months to allow US court proceedings to be completed.

Magistrate Jane Mottley noted Newton would have to return to Sydney to face charges of assault involving a Sydney taxi driver in December.

Lawyer Chris Murphy told a Downing Centre Local Court today that Newton had relocated to the US on the advice of his psychiatrists who said ‘‘he would not survive’’ in Australia.

‘‘My client is hunted like a wounded animal,’’ Murphy said.

Newton is currently in Miami where he was arrested for resisting a police officer and trespassing. He was released from custody on a $US2000 ($1950) bond on Saturday evening.

Murphy said Newton had been released in the US on a 30-day bail order. It could take up to 30 days for a court date to be set.

‘‘My extreme concern … is that he is suicidal,’’ he said, adding: ‘‘He is seeing a psychiatrist today.”

Newton had been released in the US on a 30-day bail order but no court date had yet been set.

Miami Police Department is yet to reveal any documentation or make a statement on the US arrest, amid media reports Newton was involved in an altercation with a patron at Mr Moe’s bar.

Murphy told the Downing Centre Local Court that Newton was to be working on a Haiti documentary with filmmaker and friend Alison Thompson.

Newton will not have to appear at his arraignment under Miami-Dade court rules but would have to appear when he has a trial date.

Source: SMH, Daily Telegraph, SKY News