University of Wollongong international student Abdullah Hakami, 21 pleaded guilty to a charge of dangerous driving, admitting he was behind the wheel of a Holden Cruze when he lost control of the vehicle driving south on Lake Avenue in the early hours of August 24 .

The vehicle crossed to the wrong side of the road, careered through a fence and crashed into the front room of No. 122, where Ainsley Lennard, her partner Guy and their three-year-old daughter Lila were sleeping.

The trio escaped injury but emergencies services were called to the scene and had to extinguish a small fire caused by the crash.

When questioned, Hakami said "I was going about 70km/h and on the left-hand side of the road. I lost control of the car. I have no idea what happened."

The court heard Hakami was a repeat traffic offender who had been subject to multiple fines and disqualifications, despite never having held the right to drive unsupervised in the three years he'd been in Australia.

In court on Friday, defence barrister John Peluso confirmed Hakami's family had paid the Lennards, who were renting the house, almost $40,000 in compensation to cover the loss of their personal belongings.

Mr Peluso said Hakami was one of nine children and had been studying in Australia for 18 months on a university scholarship.

He described Hakami as an "immature" young man, noting research showed the frontal lobe of the brain doesn't fully develop in males until the age of 25.

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"He has no criminal record, comes from a good family and is respectful to his lecturers," Mr Peluso said.

"He never wants to get behind the wheel of a car again."

In sentencing Hakami to a six-month, community-based intensive corrections order, Magistrate Roger Clisdell said his offending was at the higher end of seriousness and posed a real danger to the victims.

"It's because he is young, male and stupid that he got behind the wheel in the first place," he said.

"This was appalling driving."

As part of his sentence, Hakami was also banned from driving for three years.