Zach Rolfe trial set to be adjourned due to prosecution counsel stuck in New South Wales
The trial of NT Police officer Zach Rolfe is set to be adjourned due to the Covid-19 lockdowns interstate.
Police & Courts
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UPDATE: The trial of NT Police officer Zach Rolfe, who stands charged with murder, is set to be adjourned due to the Covid-19 lockdowns interstate.
Rolfe’s prosecuting counsel, located interstate, cannot currently travel to the Northern Territory from Sydney due to the Northern Territory locking out Covid-ravaged New South Wales without going into mandatory quarantine.
The prosecution is understood to have actively attempted to get an exemption.
NT Police Association president Paul McCue yesterday sent an alert to the Association’s members saying: “(Constable Rolfe’s) trial cannot proceed on the basis that the prosecutors are currently in lockdown in Sydney. The trial will be relisted, however a date at this stage is unknown.”
An official announcement is expected later today.
EARLIER: NT Police officer Zach Rolfe has again arrived at the Supreme Court in Darwin where he stands charged with murder, for day three in a week of pre-trial hearings.
Rolfe has denied any wrongdoing in the shooting death of Yuendumu teenager Kumanjayi Walker during an arrest gone wrong in the remote outback town in November 2019.
The court is this week considering legal arguments behind closed doors on the admissibility of evidence the prosecution has sought to call before the trial’s scheduled start on Monday.
However the proceeding could still face lengthy delays if Crown prosecutor Philip Strickland SC is not granted an exemption from Covid-19 restrictions to travel from Sydney.
A decision on whether the trial can go ahead next week is expected by Thursday.
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