“A lot of people are hurting”: NT officer cleared of murder charge
Content warning: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this story contains the name and image of a person who has died.
The Northern Territory police officer who was charged over the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Kumanjayi Walker has been found not guilty after facing the NT Supreme Court in Darwin.
Constable Zachary Rolfe smiled after the verdict was announced and hugged his defence lawyer.
Mr Walker’s relatives and members of the Yuendumu community wept in court.
Mr Rolfe was cleared of the murder charge laid against him, as well as the two alternative charges of manslaughter and engaging in a violent act causing death.
He had pleaded not guilty to all charges related to the shooting, which occurred just after 7.20pm on Saturday, November 9, 2019.
One of three shots deemed to be in self-defence
Mr Walker was shot three times during an attempted arrest at a home in the remote community of Yuendumu, 300 kilometres north-west of Alice Springs.
The first shot from Mr Rolfe came after Mr Walker stabbed him in the shoulder with scissors, and was followed by a second shot 2.6 seconds later and a third 0.5 seconds after that.
Mr Walker died an hour later at the Yuendumu police station, where he was given first aid.
The Crown accepted the first shot was legally justified through self-defence, but argued the second and third shots weren’t.
Kumanjayi Walker was shot three times by Constable Zachary Rolfe in 2019. Image: 9News
Prosecutor Philip Strickland, SC, argued that Mr Rolfe’s second and third shots were proof that he intended to kill or seriously harm Mr Walker, who had been restrained on the ground by his partner by then.
“The Crown case is that the evidence that the accused gave in court, that he did have those beliefs, was a lie, and the accused lied to justify the unjustifiable; namely the fatal shooting of Kumanjayi Walker,” Mr Strickland said.
Mr Rolfe’s legal team argued he was defending himself and his partner in line with his training, responding instinctively.
“(Mr Walker) was, at all times, non-compliant with violent resistance, even after three bullets had entered his centre body mass, the exact location where Zachary Rolfe had been trained to aim,” Mr Rolfe’s counsel, David Edwardson, QC, told the court in his closing address.
“Each time (Mr Rolfe) pulled the trigger, he was acting in good faith.
“He was acting in the reasonable performance of his duties, and he was acting in self-defence; the self-defence of himself and his partner.
“In these circumstances there can be only one verdict and that is one of not guilty to all charges.”
The verdict came after five weeks of evidence and testimony from more than 40 witnesses, including footage from police body-worn cameras.
It comes as Mr Rolfe became the first NT police officer to face trial over the death of an Indigenous person in custody since the 1991 royal commission.
Mr Walker’s death and the laying of charges against Mr Rolfe four days later made global headlines and sparked protests around the country.
“No winners in this case”
Addressing the media scrum after the trial, Mr Rolfe said he thought it “was the right decision to make”.
“But a lot of people are hurting today - Kumanjayi’s family and his community … and I’m going to leave this space for them,” he said.
Mr Edwardson told the media “there are no winners in this case”.
“A man died and that’s tragic,” he said.
“At the same time, Zachary Rolge, in my view was wrongly charged in the first place.
“It was an appalling investigation and very much regretted.”
Image: 9News