Zach Rolfe to appeal NT Police dismissal decision
Constable Zach Rolfe has revealed his intentions after NT Police confirmed it had dismissed the officer, just days after the Territory’s top cop was asked to resign.
Northern Territory
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Constable Zachary Rolfe will appeal a decision to terminate his position with the NT Police.
Sky News revealed on Saturday that Constable Rolfe had been sent a letter signalling police’s intention to sack him.
They have now confirmed he has been dismissed.
“A 31-year-old male police officer has been dismissed from the Northern Territory Police Force effective 4th April 2023,” NT Police said in a statement
“The officer was dismissed under section 78 of the Police Administration Act 1978 due to serious breaches of discipline during their policing career.”
It’s understood the dismissal relates to an open letter attributed to Constable Rolfe that was published on Facebook in February.
Constable Rolfe was charged with murder on November 13, 2019, four days after he shot dead 19-year-old Kumanjayi Walker, who had stabbed him with a pair of surgical scissors during a botched arrest attempt in the remote indigenous community of Yuendumu, about 300km northwest of Alice Springs.
In March last year a jury found Constable Rolfe not guilty of Mr Walker’s murder
In the open letter, Constable Rolfe was critical of the decision to charge him, and of the subsequent coronial investigation into Walker’s death.
“In a different state I would have got a medal for it and none of you would ever have known my name,” he wrote.
Constable Rolfe’s lawyer, Luke Officer, said he would be appealing the decision.
“Constable Rolfe’s intention is to appeal the decision and exercise the full legal options available to him challenging the validity of the decision, the failure to afford fairness and the process by which it was made, the lawfulness of the decision, and also the merits of the decision,” he said.
“In those circumstances, I provide no further comment at this time.”
Constable Rolfe’s dismissal has been confirmed just three days after Sky News revealed the NT government had asked Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker to resign.
Chief Minister Natasha Fyles has refused to answer questions about the issue or say if she has confidence in Mr Chalker.
On Monday Constable Rolfe’s father, Richard Rolfe, told Sky News he believed a new commissioner would want his son back in the police force.
“The next police commissioner will need to distance themselves from everything that Chalker has been doing because the government has now lost confidence in Chalker,” he said.
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Originally published as Zach Rolfe to appeal NT Police dismissal decision
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