Hamlyn Terrace: Joshua Samuel York, 50, sentenced to seven years jail over wild pursuit that ended in fatal police shooting

A man who was behind the wheel of a stolen four-wheel drive during a wild pursuit on the Central Coast, which ended when his passenger was shot dead by police, has been sentenced.

A man who claimed he was acting “under duress” from his shotgun-wielding passenger when he tried to flee police in a stolen four-wheel drive has been sentenced.

Joshua Samuel York, of Springfield, faced Gosford District Court on Friday where he was sentenced to seven years jail with a non-parole period of four years and six months.

The 50-year-old had pleaded not guilty to using a stolen four-wheel drive as an offensive weapon to avoid arrest, failing to stop during a police pursuit and setting fire to the vehicle afterwards on October 15, 2020.

The court heard his first trial was aborted for legal reason in 2022 before he was found guilty in a unanimous verdict by a jury last year.

Judge David Wilson said York was an unreliable witness who blamed his co-offender — who he said threatened to shoot him if he didn’t help them escape — even after the jury’s verdict.

Minnesota Rd at Hamlyn Terrace was in lockdown after the police pursuit in which shots were fired. Picture: NewsLocal

The court heard York and another man, Joshua Duke, 37, were driving around Hamlyn Terrace in a Toyota Land Cruiser, that had been stolen from a nearby business a few days earlier, when staff from the company began tracking its GPS locator and called police.

Duke was armed with a shotgun and the pair managed to avoid police during a wild chase down dirt roads and across rural properties until Duke fled on foot and York torched the vehicle.

Former Nowra man Joshua Duke was killed in a shootout with police on the Central Coast. Photo: NSW Police Media

The court heard Duke was later gunned down by police after taking refuge in a farmhouse.

A coronial inquest into Duke’s death would later find he was under the influence of methamphetamine and police acted “in the lawful execution of their duties” when they opened fire shooting him in the upper leg, chest, thumb and fatally in the head.

York was arrested a few days later.

Judge Wilson said York denied any knowledge of the pursuit, or his co-offender Duke three times during his police interview.

A Highway Patrol car blocks Virginia Rd Fire Trail at Hamlyn Terrace where York drove the stolen four-wheel drive in a bid to escape during the pursuit. Picture: NewsLocal

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” York told police.

Judge Wilson said if York had been the “victim” and under duress, he would have reported it to police or mentioned it during his interview, rather than going on the run for “three days”.

“He lied to police and did so because telling the truth would implicate him,” Judge Wilson said.

Judge Wilson said York turned to drug use after being abused as a child and had spent much of his adult life in and out of prison.

York was granted bail after his first trial collapsed but was remanded back into custody following the guilty verdict in his second trial.

With time served York will be eligible for release on October 6, 2026.