<\/p>\n
Jake Danby was sentenced to a community corrections order after pleading guilty to hit-and-run driving causing death, speeding and driving unlicensed. (ABC News: Tristan Hooft)<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“Why is [Jake Danby] out?,” Mr Whitehurst’s sister said in the statement, which was distributed by the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA).<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mr Whitehurst’s family say they will remember him as a good, supportive and loving man.\u00a0 (Supplied)<\/p>\n
“If an Aboriginal man hit a white man, he would be locked up.<\/p>\n
“Mr Whitehurst was my one and only brother, now I have no brothers.<\/p>\n
“We loved him so much.<\/p>\n
“This is not fair.”<\/p>\n
His sister said Mr Whitehurst was a “good brother” who “had his struggles” but “loved his family and would always support them”.<\/p>\n
“Back home in Gunbalanya, he would help kids who were struggling and buy them food,” she said.<\/p>\n
“We miss him very much.<\/p>\n
“His nephews keep asking where he is and what happened to him.<\/p>\n
“All we have are our memories of him now.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mr Whitehurst’s family have spoken out about their pain over losing him. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
‘Racist’ text messages condemned<\/p>\n
In the hours after the crash, Danby sent a series of text messages<\/a> to his friends in which he called the victims “dogs”, “n*****s” and “oxygen thieves” and boasted about the collision.<\/p>\n “Nah c***, I’m on a come down for work, I ain’t stoppin’ for no one,” he wrote in one message.<\/p>\n “It was pretty funny watching them roll around on the road after going over my bonnet and through my windscreen.”<\/p>\n If this story raises any concerns for you or someone you know, you can contact the Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander crisis support line 13YARN<\/a>\u00a0on 13 92 76.\u00a0<\/p>\n In sentencing Danby, NT Supreme Court Justice Sonia Brownhill described the texts as “shockingly callous”.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Jake Danby was sentenced in the NT Supreme Court on Monday. (ABC News: Michael Parfitt)<\/p>\n NAAJA chair Theresa Roe said in a statement the messages were “racist and dehumanising”.<\/p>\n “[The messages are] a stark reminder of the racism that many Aboriginal people experience in their day to day lives,” she said.<\/p>\n “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.”<\/p>\n DPP considering appeal of hit-run driver sentence<\/a><\/p>\n The NT\u2019s Director of Public Prosecutions is considering whether to appeal a decision to allow a young fatal hit-and-run driver to avoid jail time.<\/p>\n Ms Roe said Danby’s case highlighted “the immense advantages experienced by many non-Aboriginal people in the NT legal system”.<\/p>\n “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.<\/p>\n “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.”<\/p>\n Mr Whitehurst’s sister said the messages had caused pain to her and her family.<\/p>\n “It’s really hurting me. Seeing those messages, it makes me so upset,” she said.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, the NT’s Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) confirmed it was considering an appeal of the judge’s decision<\/a>.<\/p>\n The family of a man killed in a hit and run in Darwin’s northern suburbs in 2024 have expressed anger over the driver’s sentencing. (ABC News: Tristan Hooft)<\/p>\n 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”.<\/p>\n “The fault lines in our community and our justice system run deep,” she said.<\/p>\n ‘A serious problem in the NT’<\/p>\n University of Technology Sydney (UTS) law professor Thalia Anthony, an expert in Northern Territory pedestrian deaths, said she was “shocked \u2026 but also not surprised” at the verdict.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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