TRG member worried about ‘another shooting’ in Yuendumu, Kumanjayi Walker inquest hears

The veteran tactical officer said the police response to Kumanjayi Walker’s death ‘would set the foundation of policing this district for many years to come’.

The Territory Response Group tactical commander on duty on the night Kumanjayi Walker was killed has told an inquest into his death he was concerned “we could have been flying into another shooting”.

Sergeant Meacham King told the Coroner probing the Yuendumu teenager’s 2019 police shooting death he perceived the risk to be “pretty high, I must admit” as he boarded a plane to the remote community.

Zach Rolfe was acquitted on all charges over the shooting by a Supreme Court jury in March.

On Wednesday, Sergeant King said his elite TRG team had been called to respond to the unfolding crisis after Constable Rolfe fatally shot Mr Walker on November 9, with his plane taking off from Darwin about 11pm.

“I wasn’t stressed, but I was extremely concerned,” the 18-year TRG veteran said.

“I had been down to Yuendumu in 2010 for the riots down there, (and) worked in Alice Springs and been out to Yuendumu for other similar disturbances when I was in general duties.”

Sergeant King said this time, in circumstances where there had been a fatal police shooting, the situation “could go either way”.

“It could have gone to the point where, as it happened, we had good effective communication with the community,” he said.

“Or it could be the case where they turn up to the police station and we could have a confrontation which could lead to an extremely violent matter.”

Sergeant King said he had lost phone reception between Darwin and Yuendumu and telephoned Superintendent Jody Nobbs for an update on the situation he was flying into.

“I could have been flying into a riot, I could have been flying into nothing, we could have been flying into another shooting, it was just in limbo,” he said.

“There was a real potential that it was going to get confrontational, I was extremely concerned about that.”

Sergeant Meacham King said the police response ‘would set the foundation of policing this district for many years to come’. Picture: Jason Walls

Even before landing in Yuendumu, Sergeant King said he was “concerned as to whether we could even get on the airstrip”.

“I’ve been to operations where we’ve had people on an airstrip with a firearm waiting for us or they’ve put obstacles on the airstrip, so when the police plane would land, it would probably crash,” he said.

“So I wasn’t even confident we would even get to Yuendumu that night.”

Sergeant King said as he scrambled to deal with the unfolding situation, he was also conscious that the actions of police going forward “would set the foundation of policing this district for many years to come”.

He said during previous deployments, police had played the role of mediator between feuding groups, but this time was different because “in this instance we caused the unrest”.

“So all the focus of all the families is now on the police, so because they’re (focusing) onto us, it’s how we behave and how we move forward (that) would dictate how things would happen afterwards,” he said.

“If we, for example, had gone down there and been involved in a violent confrontation and more people in the community had been injured, then how are we supposed to build that rapport with the community and move ahead with that?

“We were always going to move on from this, the thing was, there were still cops who had to live in that community and be part of that community and we didn’t want to make it hard for them.”

Sergeant Lee Bauwens had been due to give evidence on Wednesday but his testimony was rescheduled after his legal team was granted a last minute injunction by the Supreme Court.

His lawyer, John Suttner, had earlier unsuccessfully argued Sergeant Bauwens could not be compelled to answer questions about his “racist” text messages at the inquiry as it could expose him to internal disciplinary proceedings.

The appeal of that ruling by Territory Coroner Elisabeth Armitage will now be heard before Justice Sonia Brownhill on November 18.

The inquest continues.