By Nick Bonyhady and Emily Kowal
Readers are advised that this article contains the name and image of an Indigenous person who has died.
A Northern Territory police officer who fatally shot teenager Kumanjayi Walker six years ago was racist and worked for an organisation with hallmarks of the same attitude, a coronial inquest has found.
Then-constable Zachary Rolfe shot Walker, a 19-year-old Warlpiri man, in the remote NT town of Yuendumu in 2019, sparking protests and scrutiny of policing in Indigenous communities after messages emerged in the inquiry showing officers using racial epithets and boasting of violence.
Former police officer Zachary Rolfe, pictured in 2024 arriving at the Kumanjayi Walker inquest.Credit: Jack Latimore
Rolfe, who had been stabbed by Walker in the shoulder with a pair of scissors during the confrontation, argued his actions were in self-defence and was cleared of murder and manslaughter charges by a jury in March 2022.
In findings handed down on Monday after a three-year inquiry, Northern Territory coroner Elisabeth Armitage said: “I am satisfied that Mr Rolfe was racist and that he worked in and was the beneficiary of an organisation with hallmarks of institutional racism.”
“This was not a case of one bad apple,” she said.
She said she could not exclude the possibility that Rolfe’s racist attitudes “were operative” during the confrontation and a “contributing cause of Kumanjayi’s death”.
Kumanjayi Walker, 19, was shot dead by Constable Zachary Rolfe during an attempted arrest in the town of Yuendumu in the Northern Territory in 2019.
It comes despite an investigation into the Northern Territory Police Force last year finding that while there had been historical racism, there was no evidence of racist behaviour since 2015.
Armitage’s report contains text messages Rolfe exchanged with colleagues before the Yuendumu shooting where the officers refer to Indigenous people as “c--ns”, “n---as” and “neanderthals” and recounts evidence the constable gave of informal racist awards being handed out in the force.
Armitage said Rolfe also had an interest in “adrenaline-style policing” with a tendency to use excessive force and “dehumanise” suspects. She said this “may have led him to error” when arresting Walker.
“This was a case of officer induced jeopardy – where officers needlessly put themselves in danger making themselves and others vulnerable and creating a situation that justifies the use of deadly force,” Armitage said.
Walker died after being shot three times at close range by Rolfe during a botched arrest at a home in Yuendumu, about 300 kilometres northwest of Alice Springs, in November 2019.
The town suffers from high levels of unemployment and substance abuse.
Wielding a pair of scissors, the 19-year-old was resisting being handcuffed by officers and, at one stage, stabbed the constable near his collarbone.
Rolfe’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Northern Territory Police Force said it had introduced anti-racism strategies during the inquest and would examine the coroner’s recommendations in consultation with Indigenous leaders.
Attorney-General Michelle Rowland said the NT was responsible for its own justice system but said she would work with her colleagues to reduce the number of Indigenous deaths in custody.
“I acknowledge the profound grief caused by the death of Kumanjayi Walker for his family members and community, and the distress of all those involved in this matter,” she said, in remarks echoed by Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy.
The minister did not say whether she endorsed the report’s recommendations but said urged the NT government to review it closely.
The Albanese government’s special envoy for remote communities, Marion Scrymgour, endorsed the coroner’s report, which made 32 recommendations including new governance arrangements for Yuendumu and more support for young Indigenous people.
“I’ll be making sure that truth in that report is heard loud and clear in the federal parliament,” Scrymgour said.
Walker’s family told the National Indigenous Times before the coroner’s report was delivered that it should lead to a return to full community control of Yuendumu. “When we can self-determine our futures and self-govern our communities, our people are stronger, our outcomes are better, our culture thrives,” they said.
With AAP, Reuters.
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