Push to air Zachary Rolfe’s ‘negative messages’ in inquest

Text messages found on a NT police officer’s phone after he shot dead an Indigenous man demonstrated a negative attitude towards Aboriginal people and should be admitted as evidence, an inquest has been told.

Counsel assisting the Coroner Peggy Dwyer, left, has told the inquest nursing staff left the community on the morning of the shooting due to safety concerns. Picture: Jason Walls

Text messages found on the mobile phone of a Northern Territory police officer after he shot dead an Indigenous man during a botched arrest attempt demonstrated a negative attitude towards Aboriginal people and should be admitted as evidence, an inquest has been told.

But lawyers for Constable Zachary Rolfe have objected to the admission of the text messages at the inquest into the death of Kumanjayi Walker, in Alice Springs.

Counsel assisting the coroner, Peggy Dwyer, told the inquiry the messages had been downloaded from Constable Rolfe’s phone after he shot Walker, 19, dead at Yuendumu on November 9, 2019.

Kumanjayi Walker was shot dead on November 9, 2019.

“Some of those text messages suggest negative attitudes towards Aboriginal people that should and will cause great concern,” she said.

Dr Dwyer argued if there were text messages that showed Constable Rolfe and other members of the Alice Springs police had negative attitudes towards Aboriginal people and remote police “this court should have them”.

“The purpose of this is not to demonise those who sent the text messages, and it’s not to publicly criticise them, it’s to understand why those negative attitudes formed and to understand that those negative attitudes do sometimes form, and … what the impact those attitudes might have on police behaviours when they are arresting people and particularly vulnerable people,” she said.

She said the court should be allowed to explore how those negative attitudes could affect policing. “Those attitudes may lead again to confrontation.

“In my respectful submission, it goes directly to those recommendations and functions. And it’s on that basis that I intend to argue that Your Honour should have that evidence before you.”

There were no medical staff in the community the night Constable Zachary Rolfe shot Kumanjayi Walker three times. Picture: Glenn Campbell

But Dr Dwyer has withheld submitting the messages as evidence pending legal argument on Friday. Constable Rolfe’s legal team has objected to 13 of 54 issues to be explored at the inquest including whether there is evidence Constable Rolfe and other police officers based in Alice Springs discriminated against Indigenous Australians. The team also objected to questions about whether there is evidence Constable Rolfe or other officers had a negative view of police working in remote communities, and whether there is “any evidence of systemic racism or cultural bias in the Northern Territory Police Force or sections of it”.

Coroner Elisabeth Armitage will make a ruling on the objection after Friday’s hearing, when Constable Rolfe’s barrister, David Edwardson QC, will present argu­ments on why the scope of the inquest should be limited.

The police officer’s legal team has warned against the inquiry becoming a “roving royal commission” into Constable Rolfe’s actions as a member of the NT Police Force. It is also trying to stop the inquest from examining issues relating to Constable Rolfe’s previous use of force, use of firearms and use of body-worn video, as well as evidence relating to information he provided when applying to join the NT police.

Ms Armitage will also be asked to rule on whether legal privilege should be afforded to advice given to NT police by the Director of Public Prosecutions over the decision to charge Constable Rolfe with murder, laid four days after the shooting. The Australian has previously reported that the contemporaneous notes of five detectives working on the criminal investigation revealed concerns about the haste with which the charge was laid and that this had occurred before a proper investigation had been conducted.

The hearing continues.

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Matt Cunningham is the Sky News northern Australia correspondent.