Rolfe to face Kumanjayi Walker inquest supported by barrister who ‘fears no one’

Former police officer Zachary Rolfe, expected to be the final witness at the Kumanjayi Walker inquest, landed in Alice Springs on Sunday with one of Australia’s most experienced barristers.

Zachary Rolfe and his girlfriend arrive in Alice Springs on Sunday evening ahead of giving evidence at the inquest into the death of Kumanjayi Walker. Picture: Liam Mendes

Former police officer Zachary Rolfe landed in Alice Springs on Sunday with his girlfriend and one of Australia’s most experienced barristers, Michael Abbott KC.

Mr Rolfe is expected to be the final witness at the inquest for Kumanjayi Walker, the Walpiri man he fatally shot at the remote Aboriginal community of Yuendumu more than four years ago.

Beginning Monday, Mr Rolfe is due to answer questions for five days about what happened before, during and after he shot 19-year-old Walker three times on November 9, 2019. He was at the community as a member of the Northern Territory’s now-disbanded immediate response team and was tasked with arresting Walker. A jury acquitted Mr Rolfe on the charge of murder in March 2022, six months before judge Elisabeth Armitage began the inquest that is now in its final stages.

The Australian has been told Mr Rolfe will be represented during his evidence by the Adelaide-based Mr Abbott, a silk since 1984. Mr Abbott is an arts philanthropist who last year donated $1.5m worth of South Asian ceramics to ­Flinders University so it could ­research their use in the spice trade between the 10th and 18th centuries.

Fellow KC David Edwardson once described Mr Abbott as the finest chairman South Australia’s Legal Services Commission had ever had, “because he fears no one and was never craving approval for a judicial appointment”.

Rolfe and his girlfriend speaking with Michael Abbott KC after arriving in Alice Springs on Sunday evening. Picture: Liam Mendes

Last week, Mr Rolfe’s former boss at the elite Immediate Response Team in Alice Springs faced questions about the ex-soldier’s suitability for the job. Sergeant Lee Bauwens said Mr Rolfe was competent, professional, disciplined and motivated.

Sergeant Bauwens told the inquest he was not aware at the time Mr Rolfe was dispatched to Yuendumu that Southern Crime Command – an internal NT Police unit – was investigating Mr Rolfe over a 2018 case in which judge Greg Borchers found he lied.

Sergeant Bauwens also said Mr Rolfe was not obliged to tell him.

“It was a comment made by a judge … I don’t see how it affected his role in the job,” he said.

The inquest was told on Friday that Mr Rolfe was involved in 46 “use of force” incidents between 2016 and 2019 before he fatally shot Walker at Yuendumu.

When plotted against a random sample of officers who graduated from the NT police academy with Mr Rolfe in 2016, no other officer used force more often. Police are allowed to use force where it can be shown it is necessary.

During a break in proceedings on Friday, Sergeant Bauwens was shown a video of Mr Rolfe watching body-worn camera footage of himself.

The inquest was later told that video showed Mr Rolfe laughing as he watched himself pushing over two drunk Indigenous men in a park in Alice Springs.

Asked to comment on the video, Sergeant Bauwens said in part: “When you are looking at a snippet of a video it is hard to make full assumptions.”

Questioned further about Mr Rolfe’s laughter, Sergeant Bauwens said it was inappropriate and he would expect better.