Kumanjayi Walker’s family speaks out ahead of Zach Rolfe Coronial inquest testimony

As once decorated Territory cop Zach Rolfe prepares to face questions on Monday, the family of the man he killed says their initial shock has metastasised into disgust with NT Police.

Kumanjayi Walker’s cousin Samara Fernandez-Brown says ‘it’s going to be triggering to just hear what (Zach Rolfe) has to say and how he’s going to justify himself and his actions’. Picture: Jason Walls

When Samara Fernandez-Brown first learned her teenage cousin had been shot by a police officer in Yuendumu in 2019, her initial reaction was one of disbelief.

“It just seemed impossible, impossible,” she told Coroner Elisabeth Armitage in 2022.

“I was like there’s no way that that could have happened, not here.”

Now, more than four years after the shooting and almost two years after an inquest into the death of 19-year-old Warlpiri-Luritja man Kumanjayi Walker began, that disbelief has metastasised into disgust.

Ms Fernandez-Brown watched on last week as Sergeant Lee Bauwens faced questions about racist text messages he exchanged with former constable Zachary Rolfe, who killed Mr Walker when he shot him three times with his service pistol during a botched arrest.

Mr Rolfe was charged with Mr Walker’s murder but later acquitted by a Supreme Court jury.

When Sergeant Bauwens was asked on Friday about a text in which he described Aboriginal people as “bush c—ns”, he at first appeared to have forgotten ever having been censured by his superiors after it came to light.

“Sorry, I received a, over the phone, just brief remedial advice,” he corrected himself.

NT Police sergeant Lee Bauwens leaves the Alice Springs Local Court after giving evidence last week. Picture: Jason Walls

Speaking to the NT News after the court adjourned for the week, Ms Fernandez-Brown said it was a part of Sergeant Bauwens’ evidence “that as a family and a community we’re quite disgusted about”.

“NT Police are saying they’re moving towards change and they’re taking things on and they’re trying to make it better and whatnot,” she said.

“(But) by still employing somebody in a sergeant role that has quite evidently used racist language and had those views you’re not showing that you’re changing and that you have the best intentions for civilians, let alone Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.”

The next and final witness to take the stand will be the once decorated cop whose life, along with those of all Mr Walker’s loved ones, changed forever in those fatal few seconds in November 2019.

With Mr Rolfe set to give evidence from Monday after multiple lengthy legal delays, Ms Fernandez-Brown says her family is feeling anxious and burnt out.

“Just emotionally preparing as well and trying to make sure family are emotionally prepared but also myself as an individual because it’s going to be quite triggering and it’s going to be quite confronting to see Rolfe in person,” she said.

“It’s going to be triggering to just hear what he has to say and how he’s going to justify himself and his actions.”

Samara Fernandez-Brown has been closely following the inquest into her cousin’s death since it began in 2022. Picture: Jason Walls

But while she’s trying not to be too pessimistic, Ms Fernandez-Brown does not have high hopes that “we’ll ever get the answers in the way that we want them answered by him”.

“It would be great if he was able to say ‘I acted in this way because I had these views and they were my honest views at the time’, even if they were racist or if they were not,” she said.

“But I think this constant pretending that it didn’t come from a racist place or it just came from an exhausted place, I think that for us is quite exhausting to continually listen to.”

Some of the other officers who testified at the inquest have apologised for past poor behaviour exposed through the investigation.

At this point, Ms Fernandez-Brown says any apology from Mr Rolfe “is the bare minimum and it’s well overdue”.

“That’s a hard one because given what we’ve seen of him it’s really hard to know that if he gives an apology that it’s going to be sincere and for the right reasons,” she said.

“Understanding what he’s done and what he’s done to community and the impact and devastation that has caused us.

“And also recognising that this has been years of us having to come into court processes and learn language that we’re not used to learning and then having to learn this whole new world that we wouldn’t have had to do if it wasn’t for him and his actions.

“So I think not just saying sorry for Kumanjayi but sorry for how you’ve influenced the years that we’ve been sitting in court and that we’ve been grieving but having to learn this whole new world.”

Meanwhile, Mr Walker’s great-great-grandmother Elizabeth Katakarinja has no interest in any apology Mr Rolfe might offer when he enters the witness box on Monday.

Elizabeth Katakarinja says little has changed since her great-great-grandson was killed in a police shooting in 2019. Picture: Jason Walls

“Because he’s broken old people’s hearts, the loved ones,” she said.

“Not saying sorry because he took the life of our child.

“Still today, they’re still crying, they didn’t forget, young people, young men, they’re still crying.”

As the inquiry enters its final week of evidence after months of testimony from dozens of witnesses, both women say they are yet to see the changes promised by NT Police.

“I just get frustrated because there’s no real understanding around why people have the views that they do towards the police,” Ms Fernandez-Brown said.

“As Aboriginal people, they’re used to having excessive use of force, they’re used to being mistreated but then the police expect them to just completely comply when there is a situation.

“Say for instance people that are related to Kumanjayi or know of Kumanjayi there’s a complete loss of trust in the police force so that compliance they expect, they’re just not going to get it in the same way and then by using force you’re only conforming to what we already think of you.

“So when’s that change coming and what’s that change going to look like and feel like for us?”

Originally published as Kumanjayi Walker’s family speaks out ahead of Zach Rolfe Coronial inquest testimony