A United Arab Emirates national was drunk when he crashed his car in Campbell last month, killing an 18-year-old ADFA trainee army officer and seriously injuring two others, an ACT court heard today.
Ahmed Alzaabi, 24, a UAE cadet in Canberra on exchange at the Australian Defence Force Academy, was charged with three new offences today in relation to the fatal crash in the early hours of June 13: driving with a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.123, and two counts of culpable driving causing grievous bodily harm.
Earlier this month Alzaabi was charged with one count of culpable driving causing death, relating to the death of Queensland cadet Benjamin Taylor. Two other passengers, who are the subject of the two other culpable driving charges – Timothy James Veyret and Nicholas Adrian McRae – suffered brain damage in the accident.
In the ACT Magistrates Court this morning, Alzaabi’s lawyer, Bernard Collaery, indicated his client would plead guilty to the culpable driving charges, on the understanding that the drink-driving charge would be dropped.
Alzaabi was allegedly driving the Lexus coupe heading south-east on Constitution Avenue when it allegedly lost control and hit a concrete barrier near Reg Saunders Way.
Magistrate Karen Fryar continued Alzaabi’s bail and remanded the matter until August 4.