Deputy Commissioner Murray Smalpage to testify in Kumanjayi Walker inquest

One of the NT Police force’s most senior officers is expected to take the stand at an inquest into the fatal shooting of an Aboriginal teenager this week.

NT Police Deputy Commissioner Murray Smalpage outside the Alice Springs Local Court during an inquest into the death of Kumanjayi Walker last year.

NT Police Deputy Commissioner Murray Smalpage is expected to become the most senior police officer to front an inquest into the 2019 shooting of Kumanjayi Walker when the inquiry resumes on Monday.

Constable Zach Rolfe was acquitted on all charges in March last year after shooting the 19-year-old Warlpiri Luritja man three times during a botched arrest in Yuendumu in November 2019.

A long-running inquest into the fatal shooting began in the Alice Springs Local Court in September, where Territory Coroner Elisabeth Armitage heard from dozens of witnesses during three months of testimony.

Constable Rolfe was sensationally excused from continuing his evidence in mid-November, just slightly more than three years to the day since he fired the fatal shots, after invoking a legal privilege against self-incrimination.

After originally being expected to return to the witness box in the next two weeks of sittings, Constable Rolfe is now pencilled in to testify in July while the privilege issue remains the subject of a Supreme Court challenge.

In a statement released as he left the country on Thursday, Constable Rolfe said NT Police had now finalised its internal investigation into the shooting and “decided that the only outcome is remedial advice, which I have received via email”.

“Millions of dollars, thousands of wasted hours, exacerbated trauma for families and community, only for the result to be an email to me providing me with remedial advice — which doesn’t even count as a formal disciplinary breach,” he said.

But Constable Rolfe said the force’s top brass had also moved to force him to retire on “mental health” grounds, while issuing him with another disciplinary notice over media interviews in the wake of his acquittal.

Kumanjayi Walker’s cousin Samara Fernandez-Brown says Zach Rolfe’s refusal to testify is ‘a cop out’. Picture: Jason Walls

Members of Kumanjayi Walker’s family will also return to the courtroom next week after having previously called on the NT Police executive to remove Constable Rolfe from his post, with his cousin, Samara Fernandez-Brown, labelling the officer’s refusal to answer questions about the shooting “a cop out”.

“The least he can do is answer questions around why he behaved in that way, why he sent those text messages, and everything else,” she said in November.

Ms Fernandez-Brown said the delay while the Supreme Court ruled on the application of Constable Rolfe’s “penalty privilege” was only further compounding the family’s grief.

“For it to come to the inquest level where the truth is all supposed to be heard and (he’s) still finding a way to be able to prolong it on his end, or still to protect himself is again, extremely cowardice and very, very frustrating for family and community at this point,” she said.

The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency is a party to the proceeding and its chief executive, John Paterson, praised Mr Walker’s family for their “tremendous strength”.

“They continue to participate in this demanding process, at great personal cost to themselves and their families,” he said.

“At a time when we are set to hear evidence from Aboriginal experts and community members calling for self-determined justice solutions, we stand behind the family and the Yuendumu community in their calls for answers, accountability and justice for Kumanjayi Walker.

Mr Paterson said Aboriginal communities and organisations “have always had the answers”.

“The families and community have shown dignity and leadership throughout this ordeal – and continue to do so,” he said.

“They must be listened to, and governments must act on community calls for change.”