Former assistant commissioner John Daulby questions DPP brief on Rolfe trial

A former NT Police assistant commissioner who oversaw the charging of Bradley Murdoch has questioned why police were so quick to brief the DPP on Constable Zach Rolfe.

A FORMER NT Police assistant commissioner who oversaw the charging of Bradley Murdoch has questioned why police were so quick to brief the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) on Constable Zach Rolfe.

John Daulby, who retired from the force in 2005, has questioned the basis for why authorities acted with such urgency.

Const Rolfe was found not guilty of murder over the shooting death of Indigenous man Kumanjayi Walker on Friday.

Mr Daulby said members of the NT Police were of the belief that only limited evidence was provided to the DPP in their initial verbal brief, primarily bodycam footage.

“Under normal circumstances where you sought opinion from the DPP, is that the opinion would come about after you’ve reached a time in the investigation where investigators had all the information,” he said.

Former Assistant Commissioner John Daulby.

“Under normal circumstances, (it) might take weeks, it might take months to take something before the DPP to seek an opinion.”

Mr Daulby said it was one of the “quandaries” of the decision to charge Const Rolfe in just a matter of days.

“In my view, it’s unusual for the matter to be put before the DPP without a complete investigation being conducted.”

Mr Daulby, who started with the NT Police in 1975, rose to the rank of Assistant Commissioner for Crime.

NT Police refused to comment on Mr Daulby’s questions, citing that the matter was now subject to a coronial inquest. “The coronial process is expected to address a wide-range of questions and is the proper venue to do so,” a spokesman for NT Police said.

Const Rolfe was charged with the murder of Mr Walker on November 13, 2019, just four days after the shooting in Yuendumu. He was found not guilty by a jury on all charges.

Following the unanimous verdict, Const Rolfe’s lead counsel David Edwardson QC told media out the front of the Supreme Court that authorities had mounted a “appalling investigation”.

A young man has died and that’s tragic,” he said.

“At the same time, Zachary Rolfe, in my view, was wrongly charged in the first place … and that’s very much regrettable.”

Crown prosecutor Philip Stricklan SC said the trial would look at evidence not examined in the trial.