Hinch likely to get home detention

Broadcaster Derryn Hinch looks likely to be sentenced to home detention but in conditions that should reflect prison as much as possible.
Hinch, who is battling liver cancer and faces death within six months if he does not receive a transplant, urged Melbourne magistrate Charlie Rozencwajg on Tuesday not to jail him for breaching suppression orders.
Representing himself at a pre-sentence hearing, Hinch expressed fears he would not get to Melbourne's Austin Hospital quickly enough to receive his transplant if he was in jail.
Hinch admitted to deliberately breaching suppression orders by naming two sex offenders in 2008, at a public rally and on his website, but he believes he did so for the right reasons.
He also admitted prior convictions for contempt of court-related offences, including one for naming a notorious pedophile priest in the 1980s.
Mr Rozencwajg said if it were not for his ill health, Hinch would be going to jail.
He appeared to indicate Hinch would receive home detention and said conditions in jail "should be replicated as much as possible in the home detention order".
Mr Rozencwajg made the comment after prosecutor Brett Sonnet urged him to impose a condition that Hinch be prevented from publicly discussing the Serious Sex Offenders Monitoring Act during his period of detention.
Hinch's home will be assessed by staff from the Office of Corrections next week to determine if it is suitable for home detention.
While in home detention Hinch would have to wear an ankle bracelet.
Earlier, as Mr Rozencwajg arrived on the bench, Hinch, who was wearing a dark suit and striped blue and white shirt, took his place in an office chair at the bar table.
"Your Honour, I appear for myself," Hinch announced standing up.
Mr Sonnet indicated prosecutors no longer sought a jail sentence because of Hinch's health.
Hinch called his own doctor Adam Testro from the Austin Hospital's liver transplant unit to give evidence to explain his prognosis.
Dr Testro said Hinch's liver condition, which began several years ago as cirrhosis, had now become cancerous.
Hinch needs to receive a transplant in the next two to three months, or it will be too late, he said.
Hinch also managed some humour during his submissions telling Mr Rozencwajg that he might be surprised he wasn't calling character evidence but: "It's a bit like job applications, nobody serves up a bad one."
Hinch also explained his prior convictions to the court.
Speaking about his previous jail sentence for naming a pedophile priest, Hinch said he believed he had done the right thing and probably saved children from coming into contact with the man.
Mr Sonnet said Hinch had shown no remorse, had engaged in protracted legal proceedings and shown a disregard for the law.
Hinch is likely to learn his fate when the matter returns to court on July 21.