Zachary Rolfe’s ’use of force covered up’

Senior Northern Territory police were constantly covering up Constable Zachary Rolfe’s unjustified use of force, according to statements made by his former fiance.

Zachary Rolfe’s lawyers had objected to the text messages being admitted as evidence in the inquest. Picture: Amanda Parkinson

Senior Northern Territory police were constantly covering up Constable Zachary Rolfe’s unjustified use of force, according to statements made by his former fiance.

Claudia Campagnaro – a former Alice Springs police officer – also told investigators Constable Rolfe had told her he liked being a soldier because “it was good money and they could go out and kill people”.

Parts of Ms Campagnaro’s statements were published by Coroner Elisabeth Armitage after she ruled her evidence was relevant in the inquest into the death of Indigenous man Kumanjayi Walker, whom Constable Rolfe shot dead during a botched arrest attempt at Yuendumu on November 9, 2019.

Kumanjayi Walker. Picture: Supplied

The coroner also ruled “racist” text messages exchanged between Constable Rolfe and other Alice Springs police officers should be admitted as evidence.

In her published decision, Ms Armitage detailed passages from three statements Ms Campag­naro gave investigators as part of the coronial brief of evidence.

In one of those, she said a female detective had scratched Constable Rolfe’s face to provide “justification” for him punching Aboriginal man Malcolm Ryder during an arrest in January 2018.

Mr Ryder was subsequently charged with hindering and assaulting police. He was later acquitted by judge Greg Borchers, who found aspects of Constable Rolfe’s accounts were “untrue”, “wrong”, and “a pure fabrication”.

Ms Campagnaro said she and her police partner had interviewed Mr Ryder after the incident. “Malcolm, he just kept saying … ‘The police officer just had the devil in his eyes’, ‘I was punched in the head’, and ‘I have not done anything wrong’.”

In one of her statements, Ms Campagnaro said: “Zak (sic) has told me, ‘Thank god my body worn wasn’t on because everyone would have seen I was punching Ryder on the floor’.”

Another of her statements suggests Alice Springs watch commanders regularly covered up Constable Rolfe’s use of force.

“I remember him saying words to the effect of ‘The Watchies constantly fix up my jobs’. I’m not sure of the process of how it works but when someone reports you, as in Zak (sic), they would constantly get rid of it for him, being the unjustified use of force reports. I’m not sure how they would do this for him.”

Ms Armitage said Ms Campagnaro’s evidence might also suggest Constable Rolfe had an over-preparedness to draw or use a firearm. In one of her statements, Ms Campagnaro said: “Zak (sic) has told me ‘I always get my gun out first’. I don’t remember when he told me this but I just remember him telling me when we were out at (place). He just thought it was funny in the context he was saying it, that he is ­always first to get his gun out.

“We would just be talking about going on a holiday and he would just off the cuff say words to the effect of ‘If I shot someone, I could go on a six-month holiday’.”

She also said Constable Rolfe had wanted to join the SAS. “Zak (sic) had previously spoken about getting into the SAS and said to me ‘I like being a soldier, it was good money and they could go out and kill people’.

“He said this to me a few times because when we first got together, he was trying to get into the SAS. I don’t know what I thought at the beginning, it should have been a red flag.”

Constable Rolfe and Ms Campagnaro were engaged in March 2018, a month after they began a relationship, but they had separated by the time of Walker’s death.

In March, Constable Rolfe was found not guilty of Walker’s murder and the reserve charges of manslaughter and engaging in a violent act causing death.

Constable Rolfe had objected to the receipt of Ms Campagnaro’s evidence at the inquest on the basis it was “not logically probative of any issue relevant to the coronial inquiry and should not be received into evidence”.

In allowing the evidence, Ms Armitage said “there may well be significant issues with her credibility and/or reliability as a witness, or the interpretation of her evidence … (but) the evidence is rationally capable of acceptance, the interpretations are seemingly open and the accounts are relevant to the inquiries I am undertaking.”

She also rejected Constable Rolfe’s arguments that seizure of his text messages was unlawful and could undermine his acquittal by a Supreme Court jury.

Matt Cunningham is the Sky News Northern Australia Correspondent