Cindy Dean’s lawyer Mike Wardell told the court new offences had arisen from 2013, including affray and three counts of recklessly causing injury, which now had to be resolved as well.

“This was a curveball none of us saw coming,” Mr Wardell said.

“Ms Dean has only received this paperwork recently.”

The court heard in October last year that Dean hired the $15,000 car from a Ballarat car hire business in June 2016 but it was found damaged and abandoned in Invermay a month later.

Dean pleaded guilty to three charges including theft of the vehicle, which also breached two community corrections orders.

In October, Dean was suspended from driving for three months and sentencing was adjourned for four months to assess if she was serious about changing her ways.

Her sentencing was adjourned today to March 14 but magistrate Mary Robertson warned she’d “better be staying out of trouble”.