A man accused of murdering his former wife by running her car off a country road at high speed has been ordered to appear in court for the first time since the crash, which left him disabled.
He also faces two attempted murder charges related to passengers in the sedan, who were left with minor injuries, along with three counts of breaching apprehended violence orders.
Armstrong has not entered pleas and will face a committal hearing in July.
Magistrate David Day asked whether Armstrong, who is in Long Bay jail’s hospital, is fit to attend the hearing via audio-visual link.
“He is fit to appear,” Armstrong’s lawyer Drew Hamilton told Orange Local Court during a brief mention on Thursday.
“It does take some work to get him in the AVL suite, but he can appear.”
Day set the hearing date and asked that Armstrong appear from custody.
It will be the first time he has faced court, having been critically injured in the June 9 crash.
Armstrong was under 24-hour guard in the intensive care unit at Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney in the months afterwards with serious brain and spinal injuries.
During an unsuccessful bail application last year, Hamilton told the court Armstrong posed little risk to the community as he had part of his skull removed and could no longer walk.
Police prosecutor Carl Smith described Armstrong as “an extremely dangerous person” who left the surviving victims in fear, despite his injuries.
“(They) were terrified before this incident, they’re even more terrified now,” Sergeant Smith told the earlier hearing.
“He knew driving 140km/h into a car of the likelihood that he’d be killing his wife, but (also) anyone else in that motor vehicle.”
The case has taken a year to reach the committal stage, in part because the cars were sent to America for specialist forensic testing.
Armstrong was one of many women remembered at an anti-gendered violence rally in Orange last month.
Her family and friends have attended each court appearance since Armstrong’s arrest, wearing purple in her honour.
The case will return to court on July 11.
