Kumanjayi Walker inquest: Victim’s uncle and local cop shares how he felt ‘afraid’ on night of shooting

An Aboriginal Community Police Officer has shared how he felt “betrayed” by his colleagues on the night his nephew Kumanjayi Walker was shot.

An Aboriginal Community Police Officer who was forced to watch on as other cops desperately tried to revive his nephew Kumanjayi Walker felt so “betrayed” by his colleagues he wanted to quit, court has heard.

ACPO Derek Japangardi Williams was the second witness to take the stand in the Alice Springs Local Court on Wednesday at an inquest into Mr Walker’s police shooting death in 2019.

The 19-year-old was killed after he was shot three times by Immediate Response Team member Constable Zach Rolfe, who was later acquitted of his murder, during a bungled arrest in Yuendumu on November 9, 2019.

In response to questions from counsel assisting Peggy Dwyer, Mr Williams said if he had known what the IRT was and how heavily they’d be armed on the night of Mr Walker’s death, he would have told his sergeant they should not be involved in the arrest.

“What would you have said if (Sgt) Julie (Frost) had said something like ‘You can help us arrest him at five o’clock the next morning and the (Territory Response Group) are going to come out with you?” Dr Dwyer asked.

“I would have also said that there’s no need for IRT or TRG to come in, you know, we would have done it ourselves, the local police,” he said.

Mr Williams told the court he had been at a funeral on the night in question when he learned about the police shooting and travelled to house 511 where it looked like someone had been dragged through the yard.

“I felt really angry and upset and I was lost for words, you know, how could this happen?” he said.

“Doesn’t matter I’m a police officer, it still made me feel afraid.”

Mr Williams said he and his father Warren Williams were the first to arrive at the police station, where the man who shot his nephew was now trying to save his life.

“We walked into the police station and wanted to talk to Sgt Julie Frost but everybody was running back and forth in the station and she said she couldn’t talk to me,” he said.

“So when I walked back out I could see officers doing CPR on my nephew and that made me feel really upset.”

Mr Williams said when he saw the IRT’s military style AR-15 assault rifles inside the station’s muster room he “thought Yuendumu was going to be a war zone”.

“It’s only a little Aboriginal community and we’re not fighting terrorists and you know, it’s really hard for people, when they see that it makes them feel uncomfortable,” he said.

The senior ACPO said he wanted to see a local cop like himself or a senior elder involved in any high stakes arrest from now on so “something like this doesn’t happen again”.

“I felt betrayed by my colleagues in the police force and at that time I wanted to quit, you know, but I stood strong for the community and all the people there,” he said.

“After what happened that night, that respect for the police isn’t there anymore.”

It comes as the coroner investigating the death of Kumanjayi Walker in a 2019 police shooting in Yuendumu has released video footage taken by his cousin outside the police station where he died.

In her evidence, Samara Fernandez-Brown told Coroner Elisabeth Armitage she recorded the videos because she thought “nobody’s going to believe that we were calm outside the police station”.

“We’ve been asking the police to just come out and tell us if he’s OK and what’s happening,” she is heard saying on the video.

“All of the medical staff from Yuendumu left this morning so there’s nobody there to give him medical attention, we don’t even know if he’s alive.”

The footage then shows two police cars and an ambulance speeding from the back of the police station, but shocked onlookers would only later learn Mr Walker was not on board.

The inquest continues on Thursday.