Jake Danby sentence for Darwin hit-and-run
A man who wiped out two pedestrians while speeding has been spared jail time. Details.
A young man who struck two people in a hit-and-run has been spared jail time.
Jake Danby, 24, was sentenced at the NT Supreme Court on Monday after pleading guilty to hit-and-run causing death.
On June 13, 2024, Danby was speeding past the Hibiscus Shopping Centre, Leanyer, when two men started to cross the road.
Danby struck the pair, with one of the men, known as Mr Whitehurst, launched seven metres into the air.
Rushed to Royal Darwin Hospital, Mr Whitehurst died from a traumatic brain injury.
The second man, a 37 year-old, survived and only sustained non-life threatening injuries.
Before handing down her sentence, Justice Sonia Brownhill noted Danby had sent a series of text messages after the crash which “demonstrated a shockingly callous disregard for the welfare of the victims”.
The court heard Danby dished off a number of texts in which he mocked and blamed the victims.
“They were rolling all over the road like bitches when I looked in my mirror,” one text read.
“The world needs c--ts like me to take a hit to teach these c--ts a lifelong lesson,” read another.
Justice Brownhill addressed the messages.
“The degree of callousness and disdain expressed in those text messages for two other human beings, who you have obviously harmed — most likely seriously — is difficult to fathom.”
Danby was handed a 12-month community corrections order, with five months to be spent in home detention.
