Lara Dior: glamour model Wethbet Almaali convicted of drug driving
A glamour model was caught slumped and unconscious behind the wheel of a pink Mercedes in a Sydney street only months after she was caught driving the same car with cocaine and methylamphetamine in her system.
St George Shire Standard
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A glamour model and repeat traffic offender who has not held a licence since 2004 has been busted drug driving behind the wheel of an unregistered pink Mercedes with illegal diamante stickers on the expired number plates.
Wethbet Almaali – also known as Lara Dior – had not held a licence for almost 16 years when police found her driving with cocaine and methylamphetamine in her system in Gregory Hills on December 29 last year.
Less than five months later on May 5 police found her slumped behind the wheel of the same unregistered pink Mercedes in Sans Souci with 50 Xanax tablets in the passenger’s footwell.
When a passer-by found her unconscious in the running car, agreed police facts indicate she could not be roused for some time.
“She was slurring her words, was struggling to stay sitting upright in the car and had red glassy eyes,” police stated.
“The accused failed to maintain a steady level of consciousness and could not hold a conversation.”
Almaali appeared before Magistrate Holly Kemp at Sutherland Local Court on Tuesday and pleaded guilty to drug driving, using an unregistered vehicle, driving unlicensed and having defaced number plates in relation to the Gregory Hills incident.
She also pleaded guilty to refusing to submit to a breath test, using an unregistered vehicle, driving without a licence on a subsequent occasion and prohibited drug possession after the Sans Souci incident.
Ms Kemp convicted Almaali, fined her a total of $700 and disqualified her from driving for three months.
She is already currently serving an 18-month supervised community corrections order after she was convicted of dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage by deception at Waverley Local Court in June this year.
The facts tendered to Sutherland Local Court describe the St Andrews hairdresser as a “recidivist traffic offender who shows little regard for the law or road rules”.
“The accused does not currently hold a licence but continues to drive,” police facts state.
“The accused consistently resists and refuses to comply with directions from police when being stopped for driving a motor vehicle – it is evident that the accused has no respect for the law or the road rules.”
Police facts reveal Almaali had to be taken kicking and screaming to St George Hospital when she failed to comply with a breath test after her arrest in Sans Souci.
“Police conducted a sobriety test on the accused, which she failed, and she was informed she was going to be taken to hospital for a blood and urine sample,” police facts state.
“The accused refused to comply and fought against police – she continued to lash out at police and resisted getting into the police vehicle.”
Almaali’s criminal and traffic histories were tendered to the court and reveal a lengthy pattern of disobedience on the roads.
She has been disqualified from driving six times, and one occasion in 2006 she was sentenced to periodic detention in jail for nine months.
Her traffic history also reveals 10 minor speeding fines which cost her $1249 and 35 demerit points, along with one $226 fine and three demerits for using a mobile phone while driving in December 2003.
