Man bailed for Long Gully 'hit and run' as victim fights for life

The victim of the May 6 incident, described initially as a hit and run, was undergoing emergency surgery for head injuries in Melbourne and his prognosis was unknown, police told Bendigo Magistrates' Court on May 8.

There was potential for the charges - of negligently causing serious injury with a motor vehicle and driving in a manner dangerous to cause serious injury - to be upgraded should he die, the court heard.

According to police, Leon O'Borne was at a social gathering in Long Gully on Monday night and had been drinking when he got into an altercation with a 51-year-old man he knew and punched a hole in the wall.

He then got behind the wheel of his partner's silver Ford sedan and started hoon driving in the area, doing multiple burnouts in Derwent Drive and a burnout around 400m long down the length of Hercules Street, major collision investigator Kyllee Edis said.

At one point he got out of the car and resumed arguing with the victim, headbutting him.

Back in the vehicle at about 9.45pm, he edged it towards the victim, who ended up on the bonnet. O'Borne then drove forward for 20 to 30m before braking heavily, causing the man to hit the road.

The court heard that when O'Borne was interviewed the next day, he told police he had driven at up to 60km/hour with the man on his bonnet.

He then braked to get him off the car but had thought he had a hold and hadn't expected him to hit the ground like he did.

According to Detective Senior Constable Edis, a large number of people ran to help the victim, who was assessed at the scene and flown to the Royal Melbourne Hospital with life-threatening injuries.

After the impact O'Borne stopped the car a short distance away and got out.

According to his account he was then set upon by multiple people, who punched him and stabbed him with the keys grabbed from the ignition.

He managed to get back to the car with the help of his brother and drove away.

O'Borne was arrested at a family member's home at 4.30am on Tuesday and initially refused treatment for his injuries.

However, after being assessed as unfit for interview he was taken to hospital and interviewed by police the next day.

DSC Edis said investigators had found CCTV footage showing the silver Ford accelerating before braking sharply, throwing the victim to the ground.

The court heard they also had witnesses who had seen and heard O'Borne arguing with another man and doing burnouts up and down the street, and who had observed the 51-year-old face-down on the bonnet before he was thrown from it.

Police opposed O'Borne's release on bail, arguing he posed an unacceptable risk to community safety and could try to interfere with witnesses.

But defence lawyer Rebecca Healey said her client had left the scene of the incident because he was afraid of being attacked, and that conditions could be put in place to reasonably manage any risk in his case.

Her client was Aboriginal, had attended Kalianna Special School due to his intellectual disability and was illiterate, she said.

Furthermore, there would be a delay while the police prepared their case.

O'Borne's partner, who was in court with four other family members, including a five-week-old baby - one of three children the couple have together - gave evidence that she would welcome him being bailed to her Long Gully address.

Magistrate Ross Betts, taking into account the likely delay in O'Berne's case, along with his Aboriginality, intellectual disability, sometime employment and the availability of services to help him, found he met a threshold of compelling reasons to grant him bail.

The magistrate bailed O'Borne with conditions preventing him from being in Derwent Drive, contacting witnesses for the prosecution, drinking, driving, taking drugs, attending licensed premises or leaving his partner's home between the hours of 10pm and 6am.

He is due back in court on August 28.