Cleared: Zachary Rolfe lashes top cops after acquitted of all charges

Zachary Rolfe, the NT police constable acquitted of murdering Kumanjayi Walker, says he was ‘thrown under the bus’ by police leadership to appease an angry crowd.

Acquitted after more than two years on a murder charge...Northern Territory police constable Zachary Rolfe. Picture: John Feder

Zachary Rolfe, the Northern ­Territory police constable acquitted of murdering indigenous man Kumanjayi Walker in the remote town of Yuendumu, says he was “thrown under the bus’’ by police leadership to appease an angry crowd and arrested despite “evidence that cleared me’’.

In a verdict delivered on Friday, a jury found Constable Rolfe not guilty of three charges – murder, manslaughter and engaging in a violent act causing death – relating to Walker’s shooting in the central NT community of Yuendumu in November 2019.

The jury, chosen from the Darwin region, handed down its unanimous decision after about six hours of deliberation.

The trial became a racial flashpoint after Walker’s death sparked indigenous protests around the country in late 2019 and was picked up by the Black Lives Matter movement.

It renewed debate around the effects of alcohol and violence in remote communities, the operation of the justice system and the use of guns by police.

After the verdict, Walker’s supporters argued that the justice system had failed them and paid no heed to traditional law.

Despite fears the verdict would cause unrest in indigenous communities, Yuendumu was calm on Friday night.

Constable Rolfe shot Walker three times after the 19-year-old stabbed him with scissors. Walker was wanted for breaching a court order and for threatening two Yuendumu policemen with an axe three days before the shooting.

In an interview with The Weekend Australian in late 2019, shortly after he was charged with murder over the shooting, Constable Rolfe said the NT police leadership “sacrificed me to appease a crowd, which is not what a good leader would do’’.

He said he had shot Walker to protect his partner Adam Eberl from being stabbed.

“I would not do anything differently. I do not wish I’d done anything differently,’’ Constable Rolfe said in the interview.

“All I can say is that I’m not racist. I don’t care what race anyone is. All I care about is behaviour.

“To put it as bluntly as I can, if a white guy stabbed me and tried to stab my partner, I’d shoot him just the same.’’

The 30-year-old police constable was brought into the NT ­Supreme Court dock to hear the verdict, having spent much of the trial seated in the public gallery ­behind his lawyers while jurors ­occupied the dock due to coronavirus social-distancing rules. He was watched by his parents and other supporters, who have been with him daily throughout the month-long proceedings.

Constable Rolfe showed no emotion as the verdict was read out but grinned slightly after he was found not guilty. He shook hands with his legal team and embraced his family as the court cleared.

The verdict infuriated Yuendumu elders. “Today is not a very – it’s not a really happy day for us,” senior Yuendumu elder Ned Hargraves said after the verdict.

“It’s another sad day. I’d just say – when ... are we going to get ­justice. No guns. No guns in rural remote community. We don’t want no remote community. We don’t want no guns. No guns.

“Enough is enough. To our people – let us stand strong. To our people — let us stand strong.

“Let us respect each other. And we do. Let us respect each other. And we do not want to see another black young … not want to see another black young fella, or a girl, to be shot.”

Territory Chief Minister Michael Gunner said it was time to “bridge divisions apparent in the community’’.

“The justice system has done what was required of it – 12 of our fellow Territorians have considered all of the evidence before them, and delivered a verdict,” Mr Gunner said.

“I acknowledge the pain the death has caused for the deceased’s family and the Yuendumu community, who are in mourning.

“I also acknowledge and appreciate the hard work of our policemen and women – who undertake their duties in difficult and often very dangerous environments.

“Their work is valued and respected.”

Kumanjayi Walker was shot dead in 2019.

Constable Rolfe’s defence barrister David Edwardson QC said “consequences will flow’’ for the public figures who had “quite a lot to say’’ before Constable Rolfe was charged.

“It was an appalling investigation, and that’s very much regrettable,” Mr Edwardson said.

Outside court Constable Rolfe said: “Obviously, I think it was the right decision to make but a lot of people are hurting today ... so I’m gonna leave this space for them.”

In his 2019 interview, Constable Rolfe said he shot Walker once after the 19-year-old repeatedly attempted to stab his partner in the chest with a pair of surgical scissors. After the first shot Walker and his partner stumbled on to a mattress.

“I saw Walker continue to strike multiple times at my partner’s neck area, so I fired two more rounds into Walker,” Constable Rolfe said.

“It wasn’t until after the third round that he stopped trying to stab my partner. It is extremely unfortunate that Walker passed but I did what I had to do to protect my partner and myself. I had been stabbed but my main concern at the time was my partner, who has a wife and kids. Walker put us in that situation. He put my partner’s life at risk and my own life at risk.’’

Constable Rolfe said police had tried to save Walker’s life by patching his wounds and performing CPR but the medical staff had been evacuated from Yuendumu and a landing by the Royal Flying Doctor Services was considered too dangerous.

North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency chief executive Priscilla Atkins said: “Lessons must be learnt by police from this tragedy. Aboriginal people must be safe in deals with police.

“Police need to change how they act in Aboriginal communities. Guns are not the way.’’

The jury heard the Aboriginal teenager had escaped an alcohol-rehabilitation facility in Alice Springs and travelled to Yuendumu to attend his grandfather’s funeral.

Walker was described as “quiet” and a bit “slow”, possibly due to his mother’s petrol-sniffing habit.

Constable Rolfe, then stationed in Alice Springs, learned about the axe incident while reading a daily intelligence brief and looked up the Yuendumu officers’ body-worn video.

Constable Rolfe telephoned his superiors and urged them to intervene.

His NT Police Immediate Response Team was ultimately dispatched to Yuendumu, about 300km from Alice Springs, to help police based there arrest Walker.

The jury heard conflicting accounts of what instructions the team was given.

Yuendumu officer-in-charge Sergeant Julie Frost spoke about a safe arrest plan agreed with police bosses to snatch Walker in the early morning with the help of a dog handler.

Yuendumu residents testified they had agreed with Sergeant Frost that Walker would hand himself in after his grandfather’s funeral; an aunt told the court he told her that was what he wanted, too.

But Constable Rolfe and his three response team colleagues said their instructions were to arrest Walker as soon as possible.

They drove to Yuendumu from Alice Springs on Saturday, November 9, and set out to find Walker that same evening. Unfortunately, community health staff had evacuated earlier in the day due to safety fears related to break-ins.