Reatile Ncube sentenced for being an accessory to Glen Walewicz murder

A teenager drove the three people allegedly responsible for the horrific murder of Glen Walewicz on his own front porch to and from the scene, but did not know what would happen that fateful night.

Two men have been charged over the murder of Glenn Walewicz. Pictured: Glen Walewicz . Picture: ACT Policing

The getaway driver for three people charged over the murder of Glenn Walewicz didn’t know he had been killed until days later, a court has heard.

Reatile Ncube, 19, faced the ACT Supreme Court for sentencing on Friday after pleading guilty to being an accessory to murder after the fact. 

He is the first person to learn their fate over the murder of Walewicz, 48, who was shot dead in the doorway of his Philip, ACT, residence on June 10, 2021 in a case of mistaken identity.

During the sentencing hearing Acting Justice Peter Berman said the court “extends its sympathy to Mr Walewicz’s loved ones” and described the victim as “entirely innocent”.

ACT law courts, file image, generic image, Canberra, Magistrates Court, Supreme Court.

Mr Berman described the role Ncube played in the incident, stating he picked up three people from a residence in Belconnen and was told to drive to Mansfield Place in Philip.

“ (Ncube) understood that those three were going to demand money from individuals living there,” he said.

“He did not know whether they were armed.”

“The three people got out of the car and went to the home of Mr Walewicz — they went to the wrong unit — he was not their intended target.

Murder victim Glenn Walewicz was shot dead in the doorway of his Philip, ACT home in 2021 Picture: ACT Policing

“In response to a knock at the door, he opened it and was shot in the neck, dying shortly thereafter.

“While this happened the offender was sitting in his car — his role was that of the getaway driver.”

Justice Beaman said after the shooting the three individuals returned to the car and Ncube drove away from the scene, returning to the Belconnen residence they attended earlier that day.

He said while driving away from the scene Ncube drove at “considerable speed” and through a red light.

Justice Beaman said one of the individuals into the car referred to someone being shot, but added it wasn‘t until days after the incident that Ncube knew the person who was shot had died.

Justice Berman said in sentencing Ncube he needed to weigh up the seriousness of the crime and the moral culpability of the offender.

“The murder of Mr Walewicz was a serious offence indeed and the offender assisted those involved in his killing by driving them from the scene at high speed,” he said.

“On the other hand, when he provided that assistance the offender did not know that he was aiding someone who had committed a murder, having been told only that someone had been shot, and that information coming after he had already started driving away from the scene.

“That is not to underestimate moral culpability – after all, he did most of what he did knowing that someone had been shot, just not that they had died.

“It was no part of his understanding of what was to occur that night that someone would be shot, let alone killed.”

Justice Berman told the court Ncube was born in Zimbabwe and moved to Australia with family when he was three and his parents were skilled migrants who gave him a loving upbringing.

Justice Berman said he was satisfied Ncube did not need to spend more time behind bars, and sentenced him to a two-year suspended jail sentence, backdated to July 30, 2022.

Justice Berman said if Ncube had not already spent 187 days in jail on remand he wouldn’t have imposed the same sentence.