{"id":493029,"date":"2026-02-20T19:22:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T19:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/493029\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T19:22:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T19:22:10","slug":"hit-run-victims-family-slam-punishment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/493029\/","title":{"rendered":"Hit-run victim’s family slam punishment"},"content":{"rendered":"

WARNING: This article contains the names of deceased Indigenous people.\ufeff<\/p>\n

The family of an Aboriginal man fatally run down before the driver bragged about his death are angry and heartbroken after their brother’s killer has again avoided jail on appeal.<\/p>\n

In June 2024, Jake Danby hit two Aboriginal men with his car on a Darwin street, killing one and injuring the other.<\/p>\n

He was handed a 12-month community corrections order, with five months in home detention.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/Jake Danby. (Nine)<\/p>\n

Following public uproar the Northern Territory Director of Public Prosecutions appealed the sentence as “manifestly inadequate”.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Danby’s home detention was increased from five months to two years, as three Court of Criminal Appeal judges upheld the application.<\/p>\n

Delivering their decision in Darwin, Chief Justice Michael Grant said Danby would also be required to wear an electronic monitoring device.<\/p>\n

But the family of the victim, known as Mr Whitehurst for cultural reasons, have expressed their anger and sadness over the latest punishment.<\/p>\n

“I have a lot of questions, but right now, my heart is just broken,” Toni Whitehurst said.<\/p>\n

“I’m strong but I got upset when I was told the new sentence. It’s not fair, he (Danby) is still out there, there is no justice.”<\/p>\n

\"InThe family of the victim, known as Mr Whitehurst for cultural reasons, have expressed their anger and sadness over the latest punishment. (9News)<\/p>\n

It emerged in his earlier court case that the 24-year-old driver had bragged in text messages that the man he killed was an “oxygen thief” and he would not go to jail.<\/p>\n

He called it a “two for one combo” and texted it was “pretty funny watching them roll around on the road after going over my bonnet”.<\/p>\n

Ms Whitehurst said those words continue to hurt the grieving family, as she rubbished the new punishment.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors argued on appeal on December 11 that the text messages elevated Danby’s crime to the aggravated level.<\/p>\n

Prosecutor Pat Williams said a jail term of more than two years was required given the seriousness of the offending and public expectations.<\/p>\n

But defence counsel Jon Tippett said the sentencing judge had taken note of Danby’s text messages and while being appalled by them gave them appropriate weight.<\/p>\n

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Brownhill had given his client a chance of rehabilitation and counselling and he was abiding by his corrections order amid public condemnation of his actions, the defence said.<\/p>\n

“The renunciation in this case has been a tarring and feathering by the community,” Tippett said.<\/p>\n

Courts shouldn’t sentence people on the basis of their stupidity or vile comments, he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Whitehurst’s nephews often ask where their uncle is and remember him as a funny, humble and kind man.<\/p>\n

“They miss him,” Ms Whitehurst said.<\/p>\n

Danby was not in court on Friday and Tippett declined to comment on the revised sentence outside court.<\/p>\n

NT Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby has come under fire over the Danby case, accused of not reporting a conflict of interest after it emerged he was her sister’s stepson.<\/p>\n

Boothby said she never attempted to hide the fact Danby was an extended family member and at no time was she or her office involved in the criminal matter.<\/p>\n

NEVER MISS A STORY: Get your breaking news and exclusive stories first by following us across all platforms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WARNING: This article contains the names of deceased Indigenous people.\ufeff The family of an Aboriginal man fatally run…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":493030,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-493029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/493030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}