Judge’s huge decision looms as NT cop shooter awaits trial fate

A High Court judge will this morning either send Zachary Rolfe to trial for murder or allow the Crown to keep fighting his ‘good faith’ defence.

Zachary Rolfe (in a blue shirt) and his legal team arrive at the Supreme Court in Darwin ahead of his trial for the alleged murder of Yuendumu teenager Kumanjayi Walker. Picture: Jason Walls

Today policeman Zachary Rolfe is due to face trial charged with murder — but only if one of the country’s top judges gives the nod.

Pre-trial legal wrangling between the Crown and defence means Rolfe must await a 9am (AEST) decision by High Court judge Jacqueline Gleeson to know if his trial for shooting Warlpiri man Kumanjayi Walker will go ahead today or not.

Justice Gleeson on Friday heard an urgent application from prosecutors, asking the nation’s highest court to overturn a ruling by the Northern Territory’s highest court about Rolfe’s defence strategy.

A special pre-trial episode of The Australian’s podcast Yuendumu: The Trial is live now, with analysis by journalists Kristin Shorten and Matt Cunningham.

This morning Justice Gleeson will either reject the Crown’s application, which means the trial could begin immediately in the Supreme Court at Darwin, or allow the Crown to proceed to the next step, a full High Court hearing about the defence issue, which is set down for September 10.

Rolfe’s lawyers want to be able to argue to the jury that Rolfe is immune from prosecution because he was acting in good faith in the execution of his duties as an officer, under the NT’s Police Administration Act, when he fired three shots at 19-year-old Kumanjayi Walker in the remote central Australian community of Yuendumu in 2019.

The full bench of the NT Supreme Court ruled this defence was allowed to be presented to the jury, but counsel for the Crown told the High Court on Friday this was an “error” by the NT judges.

The Crown case is that the first shot was justified in the struggle to arrest Mr Walker, but the second and third shots, fired within three seconds, were not.

Rolfe is charged with murder and two alternative counts: manslaughter and engaging in a violent act causing death.

He has already entered a plea of not guilty at pre-trial hearings, his lawyer told the court last week.

Murder carries a mandatory life sentence, with a minimum non-parole period of 20 years, while the alternative charges have no mandatory minimum sentence.

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Listen to gripping daily updates with Yuendumu: The Trial now, wherever you get your podcasts.

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