Kumanjayi Walker inquest: Zachary Rolfe’s gun claim shot down by NT Coroner

The Northern Territory Coroner says Aboriginal teenager Kumanjayi Walker did not put his hand on Zachary Rolfe’s police-issued firearm before Mr Rolfe shot him three times in 2019.

Coroner Elizabeth Armitage reads a summary of her findings into the death of Kumanjayi Walker at the township of Yuendumu. Picture: Colin Murty

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The Northern Territory Coroner says Aboriginal teenager Kumanjayi Walker did not put his hand on Zachary Rolfe’s police-issued firearm before Mr Rolfe shot him three times in 2019.

Coroner Elizabeth Armitage’s finding on Monday that “Kumanjayi did not, as claimed by Mr Rolfe, place his hand on Mr Rolfe’s service weapon before Mr Rolfe discharged the first shot” is a categorical rejection of evidence widely considered to have been important in Mr Rolfe’s successful defence at his criminal trial in 2022.

Kumanjayi Walker.

Zachary Rolfe. Picture: Jason Walls

A jury acquitted Mr Rolfe on all charges in relation to Walker’s death after hearing evidence that he felt Walker’s hand on his Glock during a struggle inside a dark­ened house at the remote Aboriginal community of Yuendumu, east of Alice Springs, on November 9, 2019.

Ms Armitage is not permitted by law to make findings that contradict the jury’s verdict in that case. While she does not make any such findings in her 681-page report published on Monday, she reaches various negative conclusions about Mr Rolfe, including that he had been at times dishonest, that he was racist and that he was not an entirely credible witness.

She also found institutional ­racism inside NT Police Force, thanks in part to Mr Rolfe’s revelations at the inquest about the NT elite tactical response group’s past practice of giving out a “coon of the year” award at end-of-year celebrations. “I find that Mr Rolfe was racist and that he worked in and was the beneficiary of an organisation with hallmarks of institutional racism,” she said.

She added that it was not possible to say with certainty that ­racism drove Mr Rolfe’s actions on the day he shot Walker, but said: “I cannot exclude that ­possibility.”

Coroner Elizabeth Armitage at the township of Yuendumu on Monday. Picture: Colin Murty

Ms Armitage’s inquest into Walker’s death began in 2022 and lasted a little more than two years because of interlocutory applications and other legal challenges.

She delivered her findings at a special outdoor sitting of the NT Coroner’s Court at Yuendumu after making the three-hour drive from Alice Springs. Senior Walpiri men and women – many of them related to Walker – sat on plastic chairs to hear Ms Armitage read a summary of her report. She spoke for almost one hour.

She agreed with evidence at earlier hearings that Mr Rolfe killed Walker in a case of “officer-induced jeopardy” and that as a junior officer he prioritised a show of force over peaceful resolution.

Yuendumu patriarch Ned Hargraves watched on in a wheelchair. After the formalities, Mr Hargraves said he had hoped NT Acting Police Commissioner Martin Dole would stay behind to talk to him. He was disappointed this did not happen. In her written findings, Ms ­Armitage said she had “a significant concern about one aspect of the version of events given by Mr Rolfe in his evidence about what happened” on the day he shot Walker in a residence known as House 511.

WATCH: The documentary of Zach Rolfe speaking out here.

“I have had the advantage of reviewing Mr Rolfe’s statements and his evidence at trial, and of ­observing him give evidence in the inquest, as well as hearing and reading relevant submissions,” she writes. “Although the public heard Mr Rolfe’s version of events for the first time at trial, by the time the inquest had commenced there was evidence that he had given at least three earlier versions of the events inside House 511.

“In each of those earlier ­accounts, Mr Rolfe never said that before he fired Shot 1, he realised that Kumanjayi’s hand was on his Glock. That is surprising, because if that was true, it would surely be one of the most serious concerns for a police officer in that situation, and an important justification for Mr Rolfe fearing for the safety of himself.”

Ms Armitage writes that Mr Rolfe did not mention Walker’s hand on his Glock when he ­described the incident to a fellow ­officer the day after it happened. He also did not mention it in his work notebook.

Mr Rolfe released a statement on Monday that said the report demonstrated a “distinct absence of lived experience or genuine comprehension of violence, criminality and victimisation – a privilege ironically afforded to her by the very frontline police officers she critiques. The severity of Armitage’s criticism inadvertently highlights how effectively the police have safeguarded her privileged position, granting her a level of security and comfort that insulates her from the harsh realities faced daily by frontline officers and, more importantly, by countless victims of crime throughout the Northern Territory.

“While Armitage critiques from a place of safety, vulnerable communities continue to endure the direct and brutal consequences of violent crime, deserving far more robust policing rather than criticisms rooted in detachment. The coroner’s infantilisation of ­Indigenous communities does not empower but rather diminishes agency and reinforces dependency. Unfortunately, this coronial investigation represents a misallocation of valuable time and resources, missing a critical ­opportunity to propose genuinely beneficial and impactful reforms.”

Additional reporting: Liam Mendes