‘I felt betrayed by my police colleagues’, Kumanjayi Walker inquest hears

The Northern Territory police commissioner has publicly thanked one of his frontline officers for bravery demonstrated on the night Kumanjayi Walker was fatally shot at Yuendumu almost three years ago.

Ian Freckelton QC, representing the NT Police, says The NT Independent has shown complete disregard for Coroner Elisabeth Armitage’s orders. Picture: AAP

The Northern Territory police commissioner has publicly thanked one of his frontline officers for bravery demonstrated on the night Kumanjayi Walker was fatally shot at Yuendumu almost three years ago.

Ian Freckelton QC, representing the NT police at the coronial inquest into Walker’s death, delivered the message from Jamie Chalker to senior Aboriginal community police officer Derek Japangardi Williams at the completion of his evidence on Thursday.

“I’ve been asked in court to pass a message to you, from the commissioner, of gratitude from him on behalf of the force for the brave efforts that you made that night to maintain calm in your community,” Dr Freckelton said in court.

Another police officer, Constable Zachary Rolfe, fatally shot Walker during an arrest at the outback community on Nov­ember 9, 2019. Four days later, he was charged with the 19-year-old’s murder but was acquitted of all charges related to the death.

The court heard that Mr Williams, an off-duty senior Aboriginal community police officer, stationed himself outside the Yuendumu police station the night Walker was shot to keep his “angry” community calm and protect his colleagues inside who were trying to keep Walker alive.

The commissioner’s message of thanks comes after Mr Williams – who is also Walker’s uncle – told the court he felt “so betrayed” over the shooting that he still hadn’t returned to active duty.

“I felt betrayed by my colleagues and the police force,” he said. “And at that time I wanted to quit … but I stood strong for my community and my people there.”

The inquest heard Mr Williams and his father, Warren – who had been at a funeral – were the first community members to go to the police station after discovering Walker had been shot.

“I walked in and I wanted to talk to Sergeant Julie Frost, but everybody was running back and forth … and she said she couldn’t talk to me,” he told the inquest.

“When I walked back out, I could see officers doing CPR on my nephew and that made me feel really upset.”

Sergeant Frost asked Mr Williams if he wanted to “come on duty” but he opted to remain outside the station with his relatives.

“I just told everybody to calm down and don’t disturb because they were doing CPR … there was no medical staff there. I could hear people screaming, yelling, crying and wanting answers,” he said. “I just wanted to keep everybody safe from everybody, basically.

“I was angry and upset, but most of all, I just wanted to keep the community safe.”

Mr Williams said he stayed outside the glass doors of the station, waiting for information on Walker’s condition and trying to calm “angry” community members, for about three hours. Throughout, he was receiving text messages from Sergeant Frost asking how the community was likely to react to the shooting and whether they should evacuate. “How will gathering elders go for a conversation to quell the crowd if they find out about this? Is there going to be trouble once they find out?” she asked him. “Will the elders be able to help if they find out? Are we in danger at all?”

Mr Williams assumed she was referring to Walker’s condition as he was unaware his nephew had died. “Yeah, there will be trouble, but people just want to find out,” he replied. “Yeah, all (will) be in danger and the elders will sort it from there.” Counsel assisting, Peggy Dwyer, asked Mr Williams what he meant. “As a human being, you feel angry,” he said. “There will be consequences … there would have been violence.”

He said he discovered Walker had died only when two members of the Territory Response Group knocked on his door at 4am and asked him to identify his nephew’s body. “I was lost for words and yeah, I was crying and a bit upset.”

Mr Williams said he felt “betrayed” that he had been kept in the dark. “From that night, the community just turned upside-down. They couldn’t believe what happened … everybody was just feeling down, angry, upset.”