Frank Ingram headed for Supreme Court trial after allegedly threatening man with machetes

A 30-year-old man who was arrested in a dramatic drive-through sting will stand trial after police alleged he armed himself with machetes and robbed someone.

One of the men arrested by heavily armed police in a dramatic bust at a fast food drive-through will stand trial for allegations he armed himself with machetes before injuring and robbing a man.

Frank William Ingram, 30, appeared at the Darwin Local Court on Wednesday via video link from prison, where he has remained since his arrest at Coolalinga Hungry Jack’s on January 5.

It was alleged in court that Ingram was wielding two machetes when he robbed a man of his wallet on July 1, 2021. The wallet allegedly contained $200 and the alleged victim suffered serious harm.

Frank William Ingram will stand trial after allegedly robbing and harming a man while wielding two machetes.

It was also alleged Ingram harmed his alleged victim using a Hyundai Accent, and that he was with another man while he committed the alleged crimes.

Defence lawyer Beth Wild said the case had already faced significant delays, and called for an exemption to be made for the court’s standard 28 day wait for a criminal call-over date to be set in the Supreme Court.

“We’ve wasted months in this court because of the prosecution,” she said in court.

“The previous prosecutor assured me that we were heading towards a summary prosecution – we can’t hold him to that – but now that it has been rejected we need to get a trial date as soon as possible.”

Ms Wild’s request was rejected by Judge Tanya Fong Lim, and a call-over date was set for September 21.

Ingram was charged with recklessly endangering serious harm, going armed in public, aggravated robbery and unlawfully causing serious harm over the alleged offending.

He also faces separate charges - which have been running alongside the alleged machete attack - of aggravated unlawful use of a motor vehicle and two counts of aggravated assault for an incident on December 21 last year. Ingram is due to return to the Local Court for those charges on September 12.