The decision by a judge to give a young NT man no prison time for killing an Aboriginal man in a 2024 hit-and-run has left many shocked — though perhaps not surprised.
On Monday, 24-year-old Darwin man Jake Danby was sentenced by Justice Sonia Brownhill to a 12-month community corrections order, including five months of home detention, after pleading guilty to hit-and-run driving causing death.
Danby struck two Aboriginal men walking near a shopping centre before fleeing. One of them, a 39-year-old referred to as Mr Whitehurst for cultural reasons, was thrown seven metres and later died in Royal Darwin Hospital from a traumatic brain injury.
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Beyond the tragedy of a man losing his life, it was the stream of racist and "disgusting" text messages Danby sent that shocked the wider public.
He called the victims "n*****s" and "dogs", and described the collision as a "two-for-one combo".
The court also heard he texted: "They learnt their lesson now, maybe next time they will use the crossing instead of walking out in front of cars, expecting me to stop like they own the place."
"They were rolling all over the road like bitches when I looked in my … mirror," he said, adding the world needs "c***s like me to take a hit to teach these c***s a lifelong lesson".
"Maybe if I'm lucky, I'll be able to claim his Centrelink for taking out another oxygen thief."
Despite the racist language, Justice Brownhill determined that contrition, the absence of a prior record and strong job prospects meant Danby would not serve time in prison.
The satirical outlet Betoota Advocate captured the public mood with its headline: "Man with keen interest in running someone over and killing them with his car moves to NT because you get a slap on the wrist for that up there."
On one level, the outcome is not unusual. First offenders often avoid prison, and sentencing decisions focus on the offence, not necessarily offensive commentary around it, even if the wider public looks at the comments with disgust.
But for Aboriginal people, the decision looks starkly disproportionate — and painfully familiar.
What deepens the sense of injustice is the silence from the CLP government.
For more than a year, Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro and her team have built a reputation on ignoring judicial independence when it suits their politics. They campaigned on a "tough on crime" election platform and have issued a number of statements celebrating the significant increase in the number of people going to prison in the NT.
The government also dropped the age of criminal responsibility down to 10, so children that age can be jailed. No credible expert agrees with this.
But this time — when an Aboriginal man was killed — they said nothing.
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After sentencing on Monday, there was no government comment. By Wednesday, as the DPP confirmed it was examining an appeal, the only response was a line from a spokesperson: "Any loss of life is a tragedy, but any decision to appeal is a matter for the DPP."
The message is clear. Some cases demand outrage. Others — like this one — apparently do not.
Earlier this year, when Justice Meredith Huntingford granted bail to a young man who later violently reoffended, Ms Finocchiaro wasted no time condemning the decision.
"Territorians have a right to be furious and I'm furious as well," she said.
"This is totally unacceptable, it defies any logical understanding of how this happened. I've asked the Attorney General to meet with the Chief Justice Michael Grant to ask what kind of responsibility the judiciary take for the decision they're making."
In that case, separation of powers was discarded. When pressed on radio, the Chief Minister doubled down.
"My job is to reflect the community's will, it is my job to make laws that meet the community's expectation, all I've said is that all laws carry a level of discretion for the judges, but I'm well within my rights to say just like everyone else that it fails to meet community expectation and ultimately people are outraged by it," she said.
It earned a rebuke from the Northern Territory's Chief Justice, who rightly noted: "The formulation of bail laws is a matter for executive government and the legislature rather than the courts."
When the coroner found entrenched racism in police conduct surrounding the death of Kumanjayi Walker, the Chief Minister's main remarks seemed to focus on the length of the inquiry.
When Kumanjayi White died in police custody, statements offered pledged full support for NT Police — the same institution many Aboriginal Territorians distrust.
The contrast is telling. The NT government has no hesitation in speaking out against the courts when it reinforces their "tough on crime" agenda. They have less to say when Aboriginal people die.
Martina Hazelbane, founder and director of the Darwin-based Indigenous Road Safety Academy (IRSA), has urged the DPP to appeal and has condemned Danby's text messages. But she also noted a reality in the NT.
"Incidents like this are a stark reminder of the systemic challenges our communities continue to face: ongoing racism, inequity, and a justice system that too often fails to hold offenders fully accountable," she said.
The Territory continues to lock up more than 1 per cent of its population, disproportionately Aboriginal, under a system promising "real consequences". Aboriginal families see this daily.
But in cases like Danby's, silence speaks louder than outrage.
