High Court reserves decision on whether Zach Rolfe murder trial will proceed

NT Police officer Zach Rolfe will have to wait until the morning of his trial to learn whether it will proceed as planned after the High Court reserved its decision on a stay application.

• Zach Rolfe murder trial to go ahead as planned unless High Court intervenes before Monday

UPDATED: NT Police officer Zach Rolfe will have to wait until the morning of his trial to learn whether it will proceed as planned after the High Court reserved its decision on a stay application.

On Friday, Crown prosecutor Philip Strickland SC applied to have the trial put on hold to give the court a chance to consider an application to appeal a point of law previously ruled on by the NT Supreme Court.

After hearing arguments from counsel for the prosecution and defence, Justice Jacqueline Gleeson reserved her decision until 9am on Monday morning.

Mr Strickland argued that if the trial proceeded as planned, Rolfe could be acquitted of a “most serious charge” because of the “full court error.”

“This is an exceptional case,” he said.

“That is, the alleged murder of an Indigenous man by a police officer. In the course of what is said to be his duty.

“It has divided the police and the Indigenous community and has captured the interest of the territory and the nation.”

Mr Strickland said the issue of whether the defence of good faith applied went to the “heart of the case”.

But Bret Walker SC, for Rolfe, fired back, declaring the case was not exceptional at all.

“This is just the ordinary case of the Crown having run and lost arguments and wishing to be heard by way of appeal against an outcome that is not exceptional at all,” he said.

A hearing to decide whether the court will grant special leave to appeal has been set down for September 10.

EARLIER: THE case against NT Police officer Zach Rolfe will come before the Australia’s Highest Court on Friday, in a last-minute bid to have his trial stayed before it’s due to begin on Monday.

Rolfe has pleaded not guilty to the murder of 19-year-old Kumanjayi Walker in Yuendumu in 2019.

Prosecutors in the case were denied an application for a stay in the NT Supreme Court on Thursday after applying to the High Court of Australia to appeal an earlier ruling on an immunity provision in the Police Administration Act.

Zach Rolfe arriving at the NT Supreme Court. Picture: Glenn Campbell

At 1pm on Friday, High Court Justice Jacqueline Gleeson will hear arguments from prosecution and defence counsel on whether to effectively overrule the earlier decision.

Crown prosecutor Philip Strickland SC has asked the High Court to review a ruling by the full bench of the Supreme Court that the immunity defence under section 148B of the act should be put to the jury.

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Mr Strickland said the decision to allow the “good faith” defence was “manifestly wrong” as it was inconsistent with a similar provision in the Criminal Code that requires police officers’ actions to be reasonable for the immunity to apply.

If today’s stay application in the High Court is unsuccessful, the Crown can still appeal the Full Court’s ruling but it will not affect an acquittal if Rolfe is found not guilty at his trial.

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Originally published as High Court reserves decision on whether Zach Rolfe murder trial will proceed