A policeman with Constable Zachary Rolfe when Kumanjayi Walker was shot has told his murder trial he didn’t think the teen was dangerous before he was shot.

February 23, 2022

Kumanjayi Walker was not considered dangerous in the moments before a murder-accused policeman fatally shot the Aboriginal teenager, a jury has heard.

Constable Zachary Rolfe has pleaded not guilty to murdering the 19-year-old during a failed arrest attempt in Yuendumu, 290km northwest of Alice Springs, on November 9, 2019.

He shot Mr Walker three times and says he was doing his job and defending himself from a violent offender who had stabbed him in the shoulder with a pair of scissors.

The police officer with Rolfe when the shooting occurred, Sergeant Adam Eberl, told the Northern Territory Supreme Court on Tuesday he did not think Mr Walker was a threat to him or Rolfe as the teen walked towards them.

Sgt Eberl and Rolfe had earlier watched body-worn camera footage of Mr Walker violently threatening two other officers in Yuendumu with an axe three days earlier.

The incident had contributed to the decision to send Sgt Eberl, then a constable, and Rolfe to the community but he said he did not notice if Mr Walker had his hands in his pockets as he approached the men.

“When I was there no, not until watching the body-worn after,” he said.

Sgt Eberl also said he did not think to ask Mr Walker to show his hands to the officers as he moved closer or believe he would need to “gain control” of the teen.

Body-worn camera footage shows Mr Walker telling the officers his name is Bernard Dixon before one of them orders him to put his hands behind his back in order to arrest him.

He does not comply and seconds later the men scuffle. Mr Walker then stabs Rolfe in the shoulder with scissors held in his right hand before three shots are fired.

The second fatal shot left a “gaping hole” in the teen’s right lung after ripping through his spleen, liver and left kidney.

He died because “he was not able to breathe” and from blood loss.

Prosecutors have conceded the first shot, which was fired while Mr Walker was standing and resisting arrest, was justified.

But they say the second and third shots went “too far” because the teen was “effectively restrained” on the ground by another officer when Rolfe pulled the trigger.

Sgt Eberl also said he was not given an order before the shooting to arrest Mr Walker at 5.30am the following morning when he was likely to be sleeping and more easily taken into custody.

The trial continues Wednesday.