AYMAN Ombelli, who has difficulty understanding English, will face Orange Local Court in January after he allegedly stole a car, drove while he was drunk, crashed into a vehicle on Forest Road, injuring the female driver, and drove off with no attempt to help the woman.
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Ombelli was on L-plates and unsupervised.
Ombelli, 26, of Seven Hills, faced court on Thursday charged with aggravated dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm, negligent driving, drive with a high range concentration of alcohol, taking a car without the consent of the owner, unaccompanied learner, dangerous driving, and failing to stop and assist after impact with a vehicle.
In January an Arabic interpreter will either come to court or appear via audio visual link to help Ombelli understand the charges he is facing, and the court process.
“My client does have difficulty with the language,” legal aid solicitor Rebecca McIlveen told magistrate Terry Lucas.
When finally apprehended by police on February 10 this year Ombelli returned a blood alcohol reading of 0.259.
While Ombelli was waiting for his charges to progress through the courts he was caught drink- driving recently for a second time.
On November 19 he came under police notice driving on Millthorpe Road at Millthorpe and was breath tested again.
He returned a second reading in the high range in 10 months with police recording a level of 0.182.
He was also charged with driving while suspended.
Ombelli did not speak during the proceedings on Thursday and will remain on bail until his next court appearance.