Ruben Costa narrowly escapes jail after impersonating a police officer to find his wife and child

A father who impersonated a police officer to track down his wife and son, has received a suspended jail sentence.

NT Police

A FATHER who impersonated a police officer in order to track down his missing wife and son has received a suspended jail sentence.

Magistrate Greg Cavanagh described Ruben Costa’s actions as “devious and dishonest”. However, he stopped short of sending him to jail because of his remorse, work ethic and high standing in the community.

The Darwin Magistrates Court heard Costa, 35, returned home from work to discover his wife, son and possessions gone.

Unable to track them down, Costa then posed as a police officer while on the phone to a taxi company.

Prosecutor Marilyn Lester said the man claimed a woman had abducted a young boy.

The taxi company broadcast the news to staff and asked the pair’s driver to reveal where they had gone.

Costa travelled to the women’s shelter where his wife was, where an argument broke out between the two.

Defence lawyer Peter Orr said Costa had not had access to his son since the incident took place.

Mr Orr said his client was beside himself with worry and that was the reason he made the “unfortunate error” to impersonate a police officer.

Mr Cavanagh said he understood the man’s emotional state but the community would “not tolerate people going around pretending they are police”.

“I’m not impressed at all with the nature of how devious he was,’’ he said. “Women are entitled to leave their husbands. They are entitled to do it the way that she did it.”

Mr Cavanagh gave Costa a two-month suspended jail sentence that would hang over his head for the next 12 months.