NT hit-and-run driver avoids jail again after prosecutors appeal against ‘inadequate’ sentence

Warning: This content is disturbing and contains the names of deceased Aboriginal people.

A 25-year-old man who called his Aboriginal victims ‘dogs’ and an ‘oxygen thief’ has been sentenced to two years’ house arrest on appeal.

In September, Jake Phillip Danby, who was 24 at the time, was sentenced to death by the Northern Territory Supreme Court five months of house arrest and a 12-month community corrections order.

Danby pleaded guilty to charges relating to failing to stop a vehicle at the scene of an incident resulting in death after he struck two Aboriginal pedestrians with his car and fled the scene in Darwin’s northern suburbs in June 2024.

A 39-year-old man – known for cultural reasons as ‘Mr Whitehurst’ – died of his injuries at the Royal Darwin Hospital when his family withdrew life support.

The judgment by the NT’s Court of Criminal Appeal on Friday said the offense in question “does not entail criminal liability for causing the death of the person”.

The incident was captured on camera footage, which shows bystanders providing assistance and calling the emergency services.

NT prosecutors appealed against the verdict last year after public outcrysaying the original 12-month community corrections order was “manifestly inadequate”.

Three judges at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Darwin upheld the application on Friday and increased Danby’s home detention period from five months to two years under an extended community corrections order.

That means Danby will now return to house arrest. Delivering their decision, Chief Justice Michael Grant said Danby must also wear an electronic monitoring device.

The prosecutor argued on appeal on December 11 that the text messages took Danby’s crime to an aggravated level.

Prosecutor Pat Williams said a prison sentence of more than two years was necessary given the seriousness of the offense and public expectations.

The lack of jail time sparked outrage in September from the victim’s family and broader First Nations communities, who say it was inconsistent with the Country Liberal Party government’s “tough on crime” approach.

Matthew Connop, the deputy CEO of the North Australia Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA), told SBS News in September 2025 that Danby’s text messages were shocking and racist.

“In terms of this case, it demonstrates the wider systemic problems that exist in the Northern Territory. You look at the comments and the language used by the perpetrator, the racist comments and dehumanizing comments. It’s a total disregard for human life.”

“NAAJA has been contacted by many Aboriginal people who have said the verdict did not reflect the seriousness of the crime or place value on the lives lost.”

Defense attorney Jon Tippett argued in December 2025 that the sentencing judge took note of Danby’s text messages and, while shocked by them, gave them appropriate weight.

Tippett said Judge Sonia Brownhill had given his client a chance for rehabilitation and counselling, and he complied with his correction order amid public condemnation of his actions.

Tippett also said in December 2025 that courts should not convict people based on their stupidity or mean comments.

Danby was not in court Friday and Tippett declined to comment outside court on the revised sentence.

In Friday’s judgment, the NT Criminal Court of Appeal further explained: “The judge expressly recognized the despicable and disgusting nature of the defendant’s communications, but he could not be convicted on the basis that the collision with the victims was racially motivated.”

NT Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby also came under fire over the Danby case, accused of failing to declare a conflict of interest after it emerged he was her sister’s stepson.

Boothby said in September 2025 that she never tried to hide the fact that Danby was an extended family member, and that at no time was she or her office involved in the criminal case.

– With additional reporting from the Australian Associated Press.

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