Zach Rolfe murder trial put on hold again after snap lockdown

The murder trial of NT Police officer Zach Rolfe has again been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic after Darwin was plunged into a snap 72 hour lockdown.

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THE murder trial of NT Police officer Zach Rolfe has again been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic after Darwin was plunged into a snap 72 hour lockdown on Monday.

Rolfe has pleaded not guilty to the 2019 murder of Yuendumu teenager Kumanjayi Walker during an arrest gone wrong.

A spokesman for the court said the start of the trial would be deferred until Thursday when the lockdown is due to end “to enable the Crown to consider its position following the decisions handed down on Friday last week”.

“It is uncertain yet whether the trial will need to be further deferred until Monday in response to the Covid-19 lockdown,” he said.

NT Police Constable Zachary Rolfe. Picture: Glenn Campbell

But a short time later it was announced that the trial would now start on Monday.

On Friday, the full bench of the Supreme Court ruled an immunity from criminal liability for police officers acting “in good faith” in the course of their duties could be put to the jury during the trial.

Crown prosecutor Philip Strickland SC had argued that if Rolfe was acting in defence of himself or a colleague, he was no longer exercising the police power of arrest.

But in their joint decision, Justices Southwood and Dean Mildren ruled there was nothing in the act “to prevent a police officer from exercising multiple powers and performing multiple functions during the course of a single incident”.

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“The Crown’s submissions overlook the fact that at the relevant time the defendant may have been exercising his power of arrest and simultaneously performing his functions of preventing an offence and protecting the life of Constable (Adam) Eberl,” they wrote.

“It may be that when he fired the second and third shots the defendant was intending to both arrest the deceased and defend Constable Eberl.

“It would be open to the defendant, if he gives evidence, to state as much.”

The latest delay came on the day Mr Strickland was due to exit quarantine at Howard Springs after travelling from NSW.

The trial had already been deferred from the original trial date in late July after Mr Strickland became stuck in Sydney due to travel restrictions.

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