An inquest into the death of an Indigenous teen fatally shot by a Northern Territory policeman has been told he spent time in Don Dale Youth Detention Centre.

September 6, 2022

An Indigenous teenager’s traumatic life before he was shot and killed by a Northern Territory policeman during an outback arrest gone wrong has been detailed at an inquest into his death.

Kumanjayi Walker died on November 9, 2019 when Constable Zachary Rolfe shot him three times in the remote community of Yuendumu, 290km northwest of Alice Springs.

The inquest was told on Tuesday that the 19-year-old had been in and out of youth detention centres and rehabilitation programs since 2014.

This included the Alice Springs and Don Dale youth detention centres, which were the subject of damning evidence during the royal commission into the NT’s youth justice system.

“We know that Kumanjayi spent time in both of those detention centres during a period where the royal commission was extremely critical of the treatment of vulnerable children,” counsel assisting Peggy Dwyer said when outline evidence to come.

Mr Walker exhibited symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder having grown up surrounded by domestic violence and struggled with drug abuse.

He also had an intellectual disability, was partially deaf and likely suffered from fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, although no assessment had been completed.

In 2018 a judge, who sentenced Mr Walker to nine months’ detention suspended immediately for escaping from Alice Springs Youth Detention Centre, ordered the teen to undertake a drug and alcohol program “and hopefully learn how to control yourself”.

The judge said “the big thing” that needed to be worked out was where Mr Walker would live after completing the program “otherwise I am concerned for the future”.

By then Mr Walker had spent about half of his life since age 14 under some form of legal restraint for property crimes and breaches of bail or court orders.

Dr Dwyer noted that there had been many attempts to help Mr Walker in the years before he was killed and “some of those attempts were more successful than others”.

“When you have a young person who has been traumatised in a way Kumanjayi was and then is subject to re-traumatisation at times, including life in youth detention centres, … there are very significant intensive efforts long term that need to be made if we are to be serious about assisting young people,” she said referring to some of 54 issues the inquest will explore.

Others include questions about the disability support available to Mr Walker while he was growing up in Yuendumu and whether he was given suitable access to rehabilitation.

Mr Walker died on the floor of the local police station about an hour after Const Rolfe’s second shot ripped through his spleen, lung, liver and a kidney.

He had stabbed Const Rolfe in the moments before being shot in the torso from close range as the pair and another officer scuffled inside a dark room in the teenager’s grandmother’s home.

Mr Walker’s cousin, Samara Fernandez-Brown, told the inquest during an informal address on Monday that her family had pleaded with police for information about his condition but were told nothing.

Ms Fernandez-Browne will be among three family and community members giving evidence on Tuesday.

Aboriginal Community Police Officer Derek Williams, who worked in Yuendumu and is an uncle to Mr Walker, and community leader Warren Williams will also take the stand.

The hearing continues.