Aaron Bunch Journalist with Australian Associated Press | Collection of published work | + 61 484 008 119 | abunch@aap.com.au

Aaron Bunch
Aboriginal teen a ‘low’ threat when shot

Aboriginal teenager Kumanjayi Walker was unlikely to have been a threat to murder-accused Constable Zachary Rolfe when he was fatally shot, a jury has heard.

February 28, 2022

An Aboriginal teenager fatally shot by a Northern Territory policeman was unlikely to have been a threat to the constable when he pulled the trigger, a murder trial had been told.

Constable Zachary Rolfe, 30, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Kumanjayi Walker, 19, after the teen stabbed him with a pair of scissors on November 9, 2019.

Human movement expert Andrew McIntosh studied police body-worn camera footage of Rolfe firing three shots into the teen at his grandmother’s home in Yuendumu, 290km northwest of Alice Springs

Dr McIntosh found Rolfe had moved away from Mr Walker before he pulled the trigger for the first time.

“On balance, by the time Rolfe first shot Walker he was unlikely to be a direct threat to Rolfe,” he said in a report about the incident read to the Northern Territory Supreme Court.

“Immediately prior to the first gunshot Rolfe was separated from Walker.”

However, he said Mr Walker may have been a threat to Rolfe and his partner Remote Sergeant Adam Eberl, then a constable, before he was shot.

This is when the pair was wrestling with Mr Walker as they attempted to arrest him after he had lied about his identity.

During the scuffle Mr Walker stabbed Rolfe in the shoulder and Sgt Eberl struck the teen before placing his right arm around his head and neck while grappling his left arm.

About the same time Rolfe fired his first shot and Sgt Eberl and Mr Walker fell to the ground.

Rolfe remained standing as he fired the fatal second shot and the third shot into Mr Walker from behind Sgt Eberl, who was on top of the teen.

Dr McIntosh found “Mr Walker was unlikely to be a direct threat to Rolfe” at this time because the pair remained apart and the teen was being “controlled” by Sgt Eberl.

He said Mr Walker was also a “low threat” to Sgt Eberl because the teen’s right hand, which was holding the scissors, was likely to have been at least partially immobilised.

“Mr Walker was on his right side with his right arm pinned between his body and the mattress,” the adjunct professor of biomechanics told the court on Friday.

“That means you are not really able to thrust with your hand. So if you are using the weapon in your hand and your arm is pinned it’s very difficult to develop force.”

Rolfe has pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Walker, saying he was defending himself and Sgt Eberl from a violent offender.

The Crown has conceded the first shot, which was fired while Mr Walker was standing and resisting arrest, was justified.

But it says the second and third shots, which are the subject of the murder charge, went “too far”.

Sgt Eberl has previously told the court he did not draw his gun on Mr Walker because he was not trying to stab him.

The trial resumes on Monday.

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