Wadeye trio faces court after ute filmed allegedly ‘trying to run a bloke over’, teen granted bail

Ongoing rioting and violence in Wadeye has spilt onto the streets of Darwin, culminating in a ute being captured on camera allegedly trying to ‘run a bloke over’, a court has heard.

ONGOING rioting and violence in Wadeye has spilt onto the streets of Darwin, culminating in a ute being captured on camera allegedly trying to “run a bloke over”, a court has heard.

Jonathon Cumaiyi, 41, faced the Darwin Local Court on Wednesday, charged with a string of offences, including recklessly endangering life and dangerous driving following the incident outside a Darwin motel on Saturday.

Prosecutor Caitlin Searle told the court poring through the closed-circuit television footage and DNA and forensic evidence in the “very complex investigation” would likely take weeks.

“We already have a significant mass of very clear CCTV footage from what I shall refer to as the Puma (service station) incident, which is the violent incident with the vehicle which was before the next violent incident with the vehicle at the Quality Hotel,” she said.

“There’s a large number of witnesses that mostly require interpreters and many of the witnesses are people that have been displaced from their home in Wadeye as a result of the ongoing rioting in the community, so it’s going to take some time purely trying to track people down,” she said.

Cumaiyi did not apply for bail and was remanded in custody until his next court appearance in August.

But his co-accused, Donald Thardim, who is charged with unlawful use of a motor vehicle and theft, was granted bail after the court heard he was merely a passenger in the ute at the time.

His lawyer, Paul Crean, said the 18-year-old did not have a prior criminal history and “denies the charges”.

In opposing bail, Ms Searle said “the real concern for the prosecution” was the seriousness of the incident the ute was allegedly involved in and the risk of further violence.

Footage of the incident outside the Quality Hotel.

“There is CCTV footage of that vehicle having a very significant incident with another group and this defendant getting out and behaving in a certain manner, which isn’t charged at this stage,” she said.

“There is a concern that there is a risk of ongoing offending, that this family has got concerns with another family and that this is going to be an ongoing problem.”

But judge Dick Wallace ruled that while his behaviour was “very naughty”, Thardim should be bailed to live with his mother.

“If the prosecution case is made out, somebody’s stolen a ute, various offenders have got in that stolen ute, including, it seems, Mr Thardim,” he said.

“That’s very naughty, of course, and then the ute’s been used in an extremely concerning fashion to try to run a bloke over, among other things.

“(But) it doesn’t seem to me that being a passenger in a stolen vehicle used (in that way) necessarily means the passenger’s in any way responsible for how the vehicle’s used.

“The fact that he carried on in some reprehensible, non-chargeable fashion after the incident doesn’t really add much to it either.”

A third co-accused, Matthew Thardim, 23, also faced court charged with theft and unlawful use of a motor vehicle but did not apply for bail and both will return to court next month.

Originally published as Wadeye trio faces court after ute filmed allegedly ‘trying to run a bloke over’, teen granted bail