Kumanjayi Walker shooting police ‘wore body cameras’

One of the police officers’ cameras was seen on the ground soon after the incident but is understood to have been recovered.

Northern Territory Police have ­revealed that Constable Zachary Rolfe and the other officer ­believed to have been in the room when 19-year-old Kumanjayi Walker was shot were both wearing body-worn cameras.

One of the police officers’ cameras was seen on the ground soon after the incident but is understood to have been recovered.

Body-worn cameras are a relatively new addition to Territory police kit, and the footage gleaned from them is believed to be crucial to ongoing investigations.

When Commissioner Jamie Chalker was sworn in as the head of NT Police, Fire and Emergency Services on Monday, he had not watched the footage but planned to imminently.

Criminal Lawyers Association of the Northern Territory president Marty Aust told The Weekend Australian that evidence from body-worn cameras could be “fairly compelling” in the DPP’s consideration of a charge and an eventual trial.

The decision to charge Constable Rolfe, 28, with murder came after Major Crime Squad investigators sent a preliminary file to the NT Director of Public Prosecutions and determined, in consultation, that a criminal prosecution should proceed.

A murder charge requires the authority of the DPP in the NT.

The case against Constable Rolfe, who intends to plead not guilty, is likely to centre on whether he “reasonably believed (there) to be an immediate danger to life”, the threshold required for police to use a firearm.

A former prosecutor, Mr Aust said the trial could turn on whether Constable Rolfe used “reasonable force” during the incident.

“We know it’s not in dispute that the accused fired a gun at close range three times,” he said.

“The question really is, ‘Was the conduct of the police officer at the time excused, authorised or justified by law?’ ”

It is standard for NT police to carry non-lethal weapons, such as a Taser or mace spray.

Mr Walker is not ­believed to have been known for violence but The Weekend Australian has learned that he allegedly threatened officers with an axe several days earlier.

A witness to last Saturday’s ­incident told The Weekend Australian one officer mentioned the axe when arriving to arrest Mr Walker at a relative’s home.

That witness had asked the officer why he was carrying a gun and recalls the officer saying he had no plans to use the gun.

Mr Aust said tensions between police and the community in indigenous towns had deteriorated in recent years as inexperienced officers became more reliant on weapons and authority than building genuine relationships.

“I hear a lot from members of the community that police going out there don’t have a lot of experience, they want to make it known they’re in charge and that they’re there to uphold the law,” he said.

“In some respects that’s understandable, but they need to work together.”