Zach Rolfe continues ‘fight to get back to work’ after acquittal over fatal shooting of Yuendumu teen

Zach Rolfe continues his ‘fight to get back to work’ as an NT Police officer despite being ‘completely abandoned’ by the force’s top brass.

ZACH Rolfe is continuing his “fight to get back to work” as an NT Police officer despite being “completely abandoned” by the force’s top brass.

Constable Rolfe was acquitted on all charges earlier this year following the police shooting death of Aboriginal teenager Kumanjayi Walker in Yuendumu in 2019.

In comments published in the latest edition of the NT Police Association’s newsletter, Const Rolfe thanked the union for sticking by him and footing his “extremely large” legal bills.

“Since the actual shooting itself, up to my arrest and throughout the investigation, the NTPA, (president) Paul McCue and its members have been side-by-side with me at each step, to the point where they were even sitting with me in the cell in the Darwin watch house,” he said.

“At a time when the organisation (not the workers on the ground, I know and am aware of the support I had the entire time from you cops on the street) completely abandoned me, the NTPA was always there for me.”

Const Rolfe said the NTPA “was there every day throughout the trial” and “looked after my family which allowed me to focus on the task at hand”.

“After the trial they stuck with me in my fight to get back to work,” he said.

“I probably don’t say it enough, but I will forever be grateful to Paul and the NTPA for having my back throughout this whole situation.”

Zach Rolfe and Paul McCue outside the Supreme Court. Picture: (A)manda Parkinson

An unattributed comment piece in the same edition states that the shooting in Yuendumu “will likely define policing in the Northern Territory for years to come”.

The article equates union membership with an insurance policy, saying “of course, most don’t need it, but occasionally that day comes around”.

“On 9 November 2019, that day came for Constable Zach Rolfe,” it reads.

“On duty, deployed with fellow colleagues to arrest a high-risk member of the community, and after being viciously set upon and stabbed with a pair of surgical scissors close to his carotid artery, Constable Rolfe was required to use his departmentally issued firearm to defend himself and his colleague, something any of you could be faced with on any shift.

“Despite the best efforts of police on the scene, Kumanjayi Walker lost his life.”

It says that due to ongoing internal investigations, an upcoming Coronial Inquest and a separate investigation by the Independent Commissioner Against Corruption, “a more comprehensive summary and report on the Yuendumu critical incident will be provided in later editions”.

“Despite this, there can be no question this incident has affected the NT Police like never before,” it reads.

“Whether it was how it was handled, the circumstances surrounding it, the duty of care to employees, or the fact one of our own sat in the dock on a murder charge, for an on-duty incident, it left more questions than answers, and still does to a degree.”