A decision on whether an inquest into the death of an Indigenous teen should look into the policeman who shot him dead could be made on Friday.

September 9, 2022

An inquest into the death of an Indigenous teenager shot dead by a Northern Territory policeman will turn its attention to controversial evidence about the officer.

Warlpiri man Kumanjayi Walker died after Constable Zachary Rolfe shot him three times during an arrest attempt in Yuendumu, northwest of Alice Springs on November 9, 2019.

An inquest into his death in Alice Springs is exploring 54 issues related to his life and the actions of police before and after he was shot.

It also plans to probe for evidence of systemic racism in the NT Police Force and aspects of Const Rolfe’s service, including his recruitment, training and use of force.

But the officer’s lawyers last week objected to the questions being explored, saying they are irrelevant to the objectives of the inquest.

They are set to argue on Friday that they should not be included in the scope of the coroner’s work.

Counsel assisting the coroner Peggy Dwyer has made no secret of her frustration with Const Rolfe’s late application to raise the issue.

“It is extremely regrettable that we have to do this now and have to interrupt these proceedings,” Dr Dwyer said on Thursday.

“I am really sorry to Kumanjayi’s family and to other interested parties that we have to do this in the middle of the inquest.”

Dr Dwyer said Const Rolfe’s legal team had multiple opportunities to raise their objections in the lead-up to the hearing “so that we could all start and hear the evidence and not complicate it in a way that doesn’t make sense to people following”.

“Be that as it may, we have to allow for procedural fairness and we have to deal with the objections when they’re raised, even though they’re raised at this late stage,” she said.

Dr Dwyer said her team would work overnight on Thursday to reshape some of the issues to help Const Rolfe’s team understand why they are important to the coroner.

“It may well be that some of the objections to the legal issues fall away once there is a clearer understanding,” she said.

Some of the evidence that will be debated is a series of text messages between Const Rolfe and other police officers that “suggest negative attitudes towards Aboriginal people”.

Dr Dwyer said on Tuesday that the reason they had been included in the brief was not to “demonise” the people who sent them but to understand why the attitudes had formed.