A lawyer representing Lanlan Yang, the 23-year-old Chinese heiress accused of crashing a $1.5 million Rolls-Royce into another vehicle in Sydney, has requested a second adjournment of her case. The court heard that Yang may face an additional charge.
Yang is accused of driving the Rolls-Royce SUV head-on into a car driven by George Plassaras, a driver for radio host Kyle Sandilands, in Sydney's eastern suburbs on 26 July. Plassaras suffered serious injuries in the crash.
Yang has been charged with refusing or failing to submit to breath analysis, dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm, not giving particulars to police, and negligent driving occasioning grievous bodily harm. At a previous mention in September, her barrister, John Korn, was instructed to enter pleas at Friday's hearing.
However, Korn told the court that after discussions with the New South Wales Police prosecutor, there might be changes to the charges. The prosecutor confirmed that while existing charges remain unchanged, police are verifying whether an additional charge should be laid. Korn argued that the delay was necessary because “the prosecution is not in a position to accept a plea”.
Yang appeared via video conference and was excused from attending in person at the next hearing. The case has attracted significant media attention in Australia and China, with about a dozen people from the Chinese community queuing outside the court from 8am on Friday. Korn described Yang as “a very shy girl” and said the media attention “doesn’t help her”.
