Aboriginal teen Kumanjayi Walker became a greater threat after a policeman hit him with his first shot, a witness has told Constable Zach Rolfe’s murder trial.

March 8, 2022

An Aboriginal teenager became a greater threat after being shot the first time, an expert witness has told Constable Zachary Rolfe’s murder trial.

Rolfe, 30, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Kumanjayi Walker as the 19-year-old resisted arrest on November 9, 2019.

He fired three shots into Mr Walker’s back and torso after the teen stabbed him with a pair of scissors in Yuendumu, 290km northwest of Alice Springs.

The Crown has conceded the first shot, fired while Mr Walker was standing and wrestling with Rolfe’s partner Sergeant Adam Eberl, was justified.

But it says the second and third shots into the teen’s torso, which are the subject of the murder charge, as he struggled against Sgt Eberl on the ground went “too far”.

Law enforcement expert Ben McDevitt told the Northern Territory Supreme Court on Tuesday that the incident became more dangerous for Sgt Eberl, then a constable, after the first shot.

“Once the struggle went to the ground it became a far more dangerous and dire situation,” he said in response to questions from Rolfe’s lawyer David Edwardson QC.

“It was still an extremely active struggle.”

Mr McDevitt also said Mr Walker remained a threat after Rolfe had shot him two more times.

“Throughout that struggle, Mr Walker remained armed with the edged weapon and it would appear, certainly by his statement after the third shot, that he intended on using it.”

Rolfe’s body-worn camera footage of the incident shows Mr Walker saying “you shot me, I am going to kill you mob” as Rolfe and Sgt Eberl handcuffed him.

Mr McDevitt disagreed with prosecutor Philip Strickland SC that Mr Walker’s statement was a response to being shot three times.

“His intent was obvious from the attack he initiated and in my view the words were a continuation of the intent he held prior to the first shot,” he said.

“Once his arms were together and handcuffed the threat was removed.”

Mr McDevitt said Sgt Eberl was in danger because he was unable to use his legs to strike Mr Walker or run from him.

He also said was easy for a police officer to lose control of their firearm when they were on the ground..

“Not only was there the threat of the edged weapon but it’s easier, in my view, to be able to take a weapon from somebody,” he said.

“There is a lot of latent power in that ground struggle, things can change incredibly quickly.”

He said his overall assessment was that Rolfe’s actions, given the information the constable had at the time, had been in accordance with his police training.

But he conceded while questioned by Mr Strickland that Rolfe and Sgt Eberl appeared to have gone into Mr Walker’s home without a plan and they failed to adequately communicate with other officers positioned around the house when they found the teen.

Mr Walker died about an hour after the second fatal shot ripped through his spleen, lung, liver and a kidney.

Mr Edwardson called Rolfe as a witness last week.

The constable told the court that before he pulled the trigger the teen grabbed at his police-issued pistol.

He also said he saw the teen repeatedly stab Sgt Eberl and that he feared for his and his partner’s lives during the incident.

The trial continues.