The Northern Territory police officers involved in the shooting of an Indigenous teenager have been asked to give honest evidence at an inquest into his death.

September 6, 2022

Northern Territory police have been asked to give honest evidence at an inquest into the death of an Indigenous teenager shot and killed during an outback arrest.

Kumanjayi Walker, 19, died on November 9, 2019 when Constable Zachary Rolfe shot him three times in the remote community of Yuendumu, 290km northwest of Alice Springs.

Counsel assisting Peggy Dwyer told the hearing on Tuesday that the police planning in the lead-up to the attempted arrest and shooting would be examined in detail.

“Everyone involved in the briefing in the community, the understanding of what that plan was and the actions taken to be implemented will be called to give evidence,” she said.

“They will be summonsed and asked to explain to the court what briefing they got, what they did in response to it, what they understood from it, and why.”

Dr Dwyer said the officers would also be asked if anything could have been done differently to enable a safer arrest plan “to see whether there is anything to be learned”.

“They are asked to come to this court in good faith and to tell the court what their honest and thoughtful reflections are,” she said.

Coroner Elisabeth Armitage was told she would likely hear evidence from the officer in charge of the Yuendumu police station, Sergeant Julie Frost, saying that on November 9 she ordered Const Rolfe and his team to start general patrols around the community and if Mr Walker didn’t surrender overnight they would arrest him the following morning.

“I anticipate that Sgt Frost will give evidence that she recalls telling (Const Rolfe’s) team members words to the effect of ‘if you’re doing intel and you come across him, lock him up’ but in her mind when they left the station the plan was high visibility policing and for them to cover (local police) for respite,” Dr Dwyer said.

She said at least one of Const Rolfe’s team was expected to give evidence that their “primary mission” was to arrest Mr Walker as soon as possible.

“The plan that was in place for Kumanjayi and any risk assessment or planning is a central issue in understanding what occurred,” Dr Dwyer said.

The inquest heard that expert evidence about the police planning is expected to find it was sloppy despite the high level of risk, with no strategy or clearly defined roles for the officers involved.

“Police will have an opportunity themselves to say whether they agree with the assessment … and if they don’t, why not? And if they do, what are the lessons,” Dr Dwyer said.

“The expectation of this court from serving members of the Northern Territory Police Force is that they will rely on their own memories and not others, and that they will give honest evidence.”

She said the court did not want to blame an individual and the information was sought so it could understand what took place and whether there were lessons to be learned.

“So that this tragedy does not occur again,” Dr Dwyer said.

She also said Mr Walker 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,” she said.

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.

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”.

The hearing continues.