A 24 year old Tennant Creek man was sentenced to 18 months jail in the Alice Springs Supreme Court recently.

Reuben Waake pleaded guilty to making a demand with menace to obtain benefit, threatening a person with a knife and unlawfully assaulting a person.

In July 2021, Waake and two other males confronted the victims near the Tennant Creek Caravan Park and demanded money and cigarettes from them with a 15-20cm knife.

A co-offender lifted his knife and pointed it at the victim and threatened to stab the victims.

Waake and his co-offenders fled when a vehicle stopped at a nearby stop sign.

Justice John Burns told the court his co-offenders are presently defending the charges.

“There is some prospect that your willingness to testify may influence the course taken by your co-offenders.

The Crown accepts that the information which you have provided is valuable,” he said.

“I accept that it has not been an easy decision for you to cooperate with the authorities in this way.

You fear repercussions against you in custody and also upon your release into the community.

You are still a relatively young man, such that rehabilitation should not be abandoned as a sentencing consideration.

His sentence was backdated and suspended, and he was released immediately.

This article appeared in Tennant & District Times, 15 July 2022.