Zach Rolfe may be immune from prosecution over Yuendumu shooting, court hears

NT police officer Zach Rolfe may be immune from prosecution for the alleged murder of 19-year-old Kumanjayi Walker in Yuendumu in 2019, a court has heard.

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NT POLICE officer Zach Rolfe may be immune from prosecution for the alleged murder of 19-year-old Kumanjayi Walker in Yuendumu in 2019, a court has heard.

The revelation comes after Justice Dean Mildren postponed the trial due to start next week indefinitely after a week of closed court hearings on Thursday due to Covid-19 travel restrictions.

In adjourning the court until a date to be fixed, Justice Mildren also referred three questions of law for determination by the full bench of the Supreme Court.

The questions relate to provisions of the Police Administration Act designed to protect police from criminal charges for things they do while acting in the course of their duties.

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First, whether the protections apply only to officers “acting in the capacity of a public official under an authorising law”.

Second, under what conditions should an officer be considered to be “acting in the capacity of a public official under an authorising law”.

And third, whether, based on an assumed set of facts in the Rolfe case, “was he acting in the exercise or purported exercise of a power or performance or purported performance of a function under the (act)”.

Rolfe has denied any wrongdoing in the shooting and was set to plead not guilty when the jury convened on Monday if the prosecution team had been granted an exemption to travel to the NT.

Crown prosecutors Philip Strickland SC and Sophie Callan SC are based in Sydney, which had been experiencing a wave of new cases in the lead up to the trial and is a declared a hotspot.

On Thursday, Acting Chief Justice Stephen Southwood said the Full Court would now convene to hear the parties’ arguments on the legal questions at 10am on Wednesday.

Acting Chief Justice Southwood suppressed the assumed facts upon which the questions are based from publication.

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