Why the Walker Inquest findings aren’t the end of Yuendumu’s death in custody battle

The acting top cop says police aren’t going to ‘confabulate’ two death in custody investigations, which involve men from the same NT community – which was ‘that close’ to gaining closure.

Senior Warlpiri Elder Ned Hargraves with Samara Fernandez-Brown, cousin of Kumanjayi Walker. Picture: Gera Kazakov

A Yuendumu leader says the community was “that close” to getting closure over a death in custody before another occurred, but the acting Territory top cop says police aren’t going to “confabulate” the two.

Speaking on behalf of community, senior Warlpiri Elder Ned Hargraves said “we were coming that close to (ending) it” in the wake of the findings being released into the Kumanjayi Walker death in custody coronial investigation.

“But again something happens and another one gets killed,” he said, referring to the death of Kumanjayi White inside Alice Springs Coles on May 27.

Family grieve during a vigil at Coles, Alice Springs, for a 24-year-old man from Yuendumu on May 30, 2025. The young man died in custody inside the supermarket May 27, 2025. Picture: Gera Kazakov

“I’ve gotta bear with that … it needs to be controlled properly – if the police are doing their job then let them do the bloody thing right.”

Kumanjayi White was 24-years-old and from Yuendumu, where in 2019 19-year-old Kumanjayi Walker was fatally shot by former NT police constable Zachary Rolfe.

In 2022, a Supreme Court jury acquitted him of a murder charge, with the mandatory coronial inquest into the 19-year-old’s death beginning in September that year.

Ms Armitage was originally due to hand down her findings on June 10, but deferred the date due to Yuendumu going back into sorry business after Mr White’s death.

On Monday, nearly three years after the Walker inquest begun, Coroner Elisabeth Armitage delivered her findings in Yuendumu, in which she wrote the death was “avoidable”.

Samara Fernandez-Brown, Mr Walker’s cousin, said the family and community were feeling “relieved that it’s come to an end”.

Samara Fernandez-Brown, cousin of Kumanjayi Walker, in Yuendumu. Picture: Gera Kazakov

“It’s been so exhausting, and so heartbreaking, and we’ve heard things throughout the inquest that have broken our hearts,” she said.

In her findings the Coroner made 32 recommendations – directed at NT Police, NT Health, and the Territory government – but Ms Fernandez-Brown said she was hoping an independent police ombudsman would be among the recommendations.

“A solution in terms of deaths in custody … would be an independent ombudsman for NT Police complaints,” she said.

“I think at the moment when you’ve got the police investigating police it inherently puts mob on the back foot.

“You don’t feel safe making those complaints to police and you don’t feel safe that they’re going to be taken seriously, so I think having that independent ombudsman also means that people will feel safe making the complaint and they will be taken seriously.

“As we saw throughout the coronial inquest, there is entrenched racism and that comes from the top all the way through to the bottom (in the NT Police).”

In her findings, Ms Armitage – who said she could not make findings which undermined the jury verdict – wrote Mr Rolfe “was racist” and worked within an organisation which had the “hallmarks of institutional racism”.

NT Police acting commissioner Martin Dole and NT Police community resilience and engagement command executive director Leanne Liddle addressing media in Alice Springs on the Walker inquest findings, July 8, 2025. Picture: Gera Kazakov

But despite the findings, acting NT police commissioner Martin Dole said he would not “confabulate” the two death in custody investigations when asked if the findings would have any effect on the Kumanjayi White investigation.

“They’re separate investigations and the findings to this matter have already been handed down,” he said.

“The other matter is still a matter that’s under investigation and I’m not going to comment further on that.”

Mr White’s cause of death is yet to be determined and neither of the two officers involved have been charged with any offence.

Since the death, Mr Hargraves has called for an independent investigation into what happened inside Coles, which Mr Dole “respectfully” rejected at the end of May.