THE 23-year-old woman who allegedly hit cyclist Christian Ashby and left him fighting for his life in the middle of the road has been granted bail with a $20,000 surety.
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The second part of Rebekah Stewart’s bail application was concluded on Thursday, with the magistrate granting the woman bail to a Toorak rehabilitation facility.
The court heard Stewart, who faces a string of offences including dangerous driving causing serious injury and failing to stop after an accident when someone has been seriously injured, had a problem with substance abuse and would be checking into a private rehabilitative facility immediately after her release from custody.
It is alleged Stewart collided head-on with the 36-year-old cyclist near the Olympic Rings precinct shortly after 6am on Good Friday before driving off erratically.
Police believe Stewart, who was disqualified from driving at the time, was either on drugs or fatigued.
Mr Ashby has been released from hospital, but still can’t walk and is currently in rehab.
The Ballarat Magistrates Court heard Stewart would be required to participate in routine drug screens and faced being discharged from the program and placed in custody if she failed to remain free from drugs.
The court also heard she faced being placed back into custody if she left the 28-day voluntary program pre-maturely.
Opposing bail, police raised concerns Stewart would commit further offenses while on bail and ran a risk of failing to appear at her next court date.
Prosecutors argued there was nothing stopping Stewart from leaving the facility, with a diary allegedly belonging to the accused detailing ties to Queensland.
“This is an applicant who has shown she does what she wants… and has a lack of regard for court orders” he said.
“She has also shown she might have ties to another jurisdiction.”
But Stewart’s lawyer, Kate Ballard, said there were bail conditions that could be put in place to reduce the risk of her client re-offending to an acceptable level.
She said one of the more important issues was her client’s attitude.
“She is in a place where she is ready to engage… she is really throwing herself into rehabilitation programs,” Ms Ballard told the court.
Magistrate John Doherty agreed, telling Stewart it appeared her attitude to take steps was positive.
He said he was also impressed by the support of Stewart’s family who have rallied behind her, and her sister’s preparedness to act if Stewart breached any of her bail conditions.
Mr Doherty said he believed the strong support helped to ensure Stewart had stronger ties to the jurisdiction.
He bailed Stewart for 28 days, ordering her to come back before a court on June 9 for a bail review.
As part of her bail conditions she was ordered to follow all directions of the rehabilitation facility, surrender her passport, not to drink alcohol or take drugs, not drive or leave the state, report to police once a week and abide by a curfew.
