‘It’s not a Royal Commission’ — No plans to probe Zach Rolfe charges in upcoming Yuendumu shooting inquest: Coroner

The NT Coroner says she has no plans to probe controversy surrounding the charging of Constable Zach Rolfe with the murder of Kumanjayi Walker.

THE Territory Coroner says she has no plans to probe controversy surrounding the charging of Constable Zach Rolfe with the murder of Kumanjayi Walker at an upcoming inquest.

Coroner Elisabeth Armitage was formally appointed to the role in July and spoke exclusively with the NT News ahead of the inquiry into the Yuendumu teenager’s 2019 death in September.

It comes as NT Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker is facing widespread dissatisfaction among the rank and file after a series of “no confidence” motions immediately following Const Rolfe’s acquittal in March.

Meanwhile, Independent Commissioner Against Corruption, Michael Riches, has launched his own investigation into the circumstances surrounding the charges being laid and said he would consider holding public hearings.

But so far the ICAC has held no public hearings and is not obliged to do so, or to make any public findings and Ms Armitage said she did not expect her own public inquiry in Alice Springs would touch on the issue.

“You’ve got somebody else looking at that and I think it’s too removed, it’s an inquest, not a Royal Commission,” she said.

“The issues are determined that are sufficiently closely connected with the death, so there are some areas which might go a little wider than that and might extend into what happened after the death, because they’re really important for the community to understand.

“There is a lot of misunderstanding there about what was happening immediately after the death and, from a policing point of view, what was happening, but more remote issues will not be part of the inquest proceedings.”

Territory Coroner Elisabeth Armitage. Picture: Glenn Campbell

Ms Armitage said her team would be working at “aligning expectations with what the inquest can actually deliver” in the coming weeks before the hearing begins on September 5.

“There’s going to be a number of different parties, they all have their own views,” she said.

“Clearly, at the end of the process it is likely that people will feel perhaps somewhat let down or disappointed by the outcomes but it’s obviously a (matter) of … coming up with the best solutions, taking into account all of the information.”

Ms Armitage said due to the complex nature of legal proceedings they could be difficult for non-lawyers to understand “so their expectations and what we can actually deliver may not align”.

“But we are trying to assist and manage that,” she said.

“Part of reaching out to the community is also providing some education about the inquest process and you can understand there would be fears about the process following a very difficult trial process and understanding their involvement as compared to what that was like in the trial process.”

Ms Armitage later sought to clarify that “at this stage” the inquest would focus only on the questions contained in an “issues list” circulated in May which “does not bind the Coroner”. At the time, Ms Armitage said those issues were “anticipated to be the primary areas of focus in this inquest, but other relevant issues may arise during the hearing”.

Read the full feature length interview here.