Andrew Bolt: Zachary Rolfe rightly cleared of murder

In today’s race politics, it seems a white policeman may never shoot a violent black offender attacking him without being accused of racism and murder.

Finally a jury has cleared Constable Zachary Rolfe of murder. So why hasn’t Northern Territory police chief Jamie Chalker resigned?

From the start, it seemed to me Rolfe was charged with murder because he was white. This was the new racism of the left.

In November 2019, Rolfe was sent to the volatile Aboriginal community of Yuendumu to arrest 19-year-old Kumanjayi Walker.

Walker had been in jail, charged with assaulting police and aggravated assault, and had since breached his suspended sentence.

Rolfe and his team were called in because Walker had chased off local officers with an axe. But when Rolfe, a former soldier decorated for bravery, found Walker in the room of a home, the arrest went tragically wrong.

Walker punched and stabbed Rolfe in the shoulder with scissors, and then stabbed Rolfe’s partner, Sergeant Adam Eberl, in his bulletproof vest. Walker and Eberl fell to the ground, still grappling and Walker still armed. Rolfe then shot Walker three times, with 2.6 seconds between the first and second shots, and another half second before the third.

A jury cleared Constable Zachary Rolfe of murder. Picture: Amanda Parkinson

That was on a Saturday. The next Tuesday, with crowds at Yuendumu seemingly primed to riot, and anti-police race protests organised around the country, NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner flew to Yuendumu to promise locals “consequences will flow”. But which consequences?

The next day – just four days after the shooting – Rolfe was charged with murder over the second and third shots, even though Walker had still struggled after them. Was this Gunner’s “consequences”?

Alice Springs detectives recorded their opposition to Rolfe being charged before any proper investigation. Two days later, anti-corruption commissioner Ken Fleming, appointed to the investigation by Gunner, told protesters in Alice Springs “one of the most important messages today is black lives matter” and anyone who disagreed was “corrupt”. These comments, too, suggested to me that placating race protesters was the authorities’ priority. Not justice.

Commissioner Chalker has denied any political interference.

Strangely, his force hid a draft coronial report by Superintendent Scott Pollock, who’d said Rolfe was innocent. Finally, last Friday, a jury agreed, even rejecting fallback charges of manslaughter.

They saw the obvious: Rolfe shot in self defence.

But in race politics, it seems a white policeman may never shoot a violent black offender attacking him without being accused of racism and murder. Now we know his police command will not defend him, either. Justice in this country hangs by a thread.