By Matt Garrick

Copyright abc

Warning: This story contains content some readers may find distressing and the name and image of an Indigenous person who has died, used with the permission of family.

The family of an Aboriginal man run down and killed by a hit-and-run driver in Darwin last year have voiced their “disgust and dismay” at the lack of a prison sentence for the offender.

The 39-year-old victim, referred to as Mr Whitehurst for cultural reasons, and another man were hit by driver Jake Danby while crossing the road near a suburban shopping centre in June 2024.

Mr Whitehurst later died from his injuries in Royal Darwin Hospital, while the other man hit was hospitalised with non-life threatening injuries.

Danby, who pled guilty to hit-and-run driving causing death, was sentenced to a 12-month community corrections order on Monday, with five months to be served in home detention.

In a statement on Thursday, Mr Whitehurst’s family from the west Arnhem Land community of Gunbalanya spoke out about the sentencing, which they said they viewed as inadequate.

“Why is [Jake Danby] out?,” Mr Whitehurst’s sister said in the statement, which was distributed by the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA).

“Mr Whitehurst was my one and only brother, now I have no brothers.

“We loved him so much.

“This is not fair.”

His sister said Mr Whitehurst was a “good brother” who “had his struggles” but “loved his family and would always support them”.

“Back home in Gunbalanya, he would help kids who were struggling and buy them food,” she said.

“We miss him very much.

“His nephews keep asking where he is and what happened to him.

“All we have are our memories of him now.”

‘Racist’ text messages condemned

In the hours after the crash, Danby sent a series of text messages to his friends in which he called the victims “dogs”, “n*****s” and “oxygen thieves” and boasted about the collision.

“Nah c***, I’m on a come down for work, I ain’t stoppin’ for no one,” he wrote in one message.

“It was pretty funny watching them roll around on the road after going over my bonnet and through my windscreen.”

In sentencing Danby, NT Supreme Court Justice Sonia Brownhill described the texts as “shockingly callous”.

She accepted Danby had shown remorse since the incident and had good prospects for rehabilitation due to his young age, lack of criminal history, and strong employment record.

NAAJA chair Theresa Roe said in a statement the messages were “racist and dehumanising”.

“There is little to suggest the offender’s racist attitudes have been reformed, despite the immense harm for Aboriginal communities across the NT caused by such attitudes.”

Ms Roe said Danby’s case highlighted “the immense advantages experienced by many non-Aboriginal people in the NT legal system”.

“The offender was granted bail while awaiting sentence, with the court exercising leniency based on his stable housing, strong employment record, and lack of prior contact with the justice system,” she said.

“Unfortunately many Aboriginal Territorians have a very different experience of the justice system due to chronic housing instability, limited access to employment and educational opportunities, over policing and racism.”

Mr Whitehurst’s sister said the messages had caused pain to her and her family.

“It’s really hurting me. Seeing those messages, it makes me so upset,” she said.

On Tuesday, the NT’s Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) confirmed it was considering an appeal of the judge’s decision.

Ms Roe said, in considering an appeal, the DPP should “take into account the callous disregard for victims shown by the offender and the broader community harm when actions causing death are accompanied by racially motivated hate speech”.

“The fault lines in our community and our justice system run deep,” she said.

‘A serious problem in the NT’

University of Technology Sydney (UTS) law professor Thalia Anthony, an expert in Northern Territory pedestrian deaths, said she was “shocked … but also not surprised” at the verdict.

The NT has the nation’s highest rate of pedestrian deaths, with the vast majority of victims Aboriginal people.

“We know there’s a serious problem in the Northern Territory with Aboriginal lives on roads, and the courts aren’t responding adequately to denounce these crimes that involve pedestrian fatalities,” she said.

“My research has consistently shown that non-Aboriginal drivers who drive unsafely or unlawfully, tend to get lenient sentences from the Supreme Court.

“Which is concerning, but it’s a pattern which has existed for quite some years.

The NT Country Liberal Party (CLP) government, which has been vocal about the need for “real consequences” for offenders since it came to power a year ago, has not taken a strong position specifically on Danby’s sentence.

However, Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby said at a press conference on Thursday that the government was “exploring” possible reform to the NT’s Sentencing Act 1995.

“When it comes to sentencing, we’re exploring all of those avenues, because at the end of the day we need it to meet community expectations,” she said.

“Everything is on the table.”