Murder-charge NT cop Zachary Rolfe in first interview over Kumanjayi Walker shooting: ‘I did what I had to do’
Defiant cop Zachary Rolfe reveals for the first time what happened the night he shot Indigenous man Kumanjayi Walker - and why he believes police lied about the case.
After more than two years of legal limbo, Northern Territory police officer Zachary Rolfe reveals for the first time what happened the night he shot Indigenous man Kumanjayi Walker -and why he believes police “didn’t tell the truth”.
Rolfe was found not guilty by a jury on Friday afternoon. In an exclusive documentary from The Australian, the 30-year-old reveals to journalist Kristin Shorten why he fatally shot Indigenous man Kumanjayi Walker at Yuendumu in November 2019.
In Rolfe’s only interview, he is calm, thoughtful and absolutely furious at having been charged by leaders he says should have stood up to public and political pressure.
“The main reason I want to tell my story is the police — they didn’t tell the truth,” Rolfe says in the interview.
He details the secret backroom manoeuvring that led up to him being charged with murder, and how he and his family dealt with the fallout.
He also reveals previously unheard detail about the lead-up to Walker’s death, the moment the shots were fired and the desperate attempts by police to save his life.
“The situation I was put in, I did what I had to do,” Rolfe says in the documentary.
Rolfe was one of four Immediate Response Team members deployed from Alice Springs to Yuendumu on November 9, 2019 to execute an arrest warrant for Walker on four charges including assaulting police with an axe and breaching his suspended sentence.
During the arrest, Rolfe fatally shot Walker after the offender stabbed him with a pair of stainless-steel surgical scissors and attempted to stab his police partner Adam Eberl.
Four days later, the decorated young officer and army veteran was charged with the 19-year-old’s murder.
In June 2021 alternative charges of manslaughter and violent act causing death were added.
On February 7 Rolfe’s trial began in Darwin.
Today the jury in his month-long murder trial returned its verdict: not guilty on all charges.
Now, for the first time, Rolfe is sharing his version of events.
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Watch the interview at theaustralian.com.au
Hear all the news and analysis in our daily podcast Yuendumu: The Trial, available by searching ‘Yuendumu’ wherever you get your podcasts
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