A Northern Territory police team wouldn’t have been sent to arrest an Indigenous teen if it was known they were sending racist texts, an inquest has been told.

September 28, 2022

A Northern Territory police team involved in the shooting death of an Indigenous teenager would not have been sent to a remote community if a senior officer knew they were sending racist text messages, an inquest has been told.

Kumanjayi Walker, 19, died after Constable Zachary Rolfe shot him three times during an attempted arrest in Yuendumu, northwest of Alice Springs on November 9, 2019.

An investigation into the shooting uncovered a series of racist text messages between Const Rolfe and other police based in Alice Springs that include references to Aboriginal people as Neanderthals, “grubby f***s,” “n***ers” and “bush c**ns”.

The men also used derogatory language to describe an Indigneous colleague and described “towelling up the locals” in another remote community.

The officer who deployed Const Rolfe’s team to Yuendumu to arrest Mr Walker, Superintendent Jody Nobbs, told the inquest into the Warlpiri man’s death the messages show contempt for the Indigenous community.

“It’s completely unacceptable, offensive and hurtful and there is no place for it,” he told the coroner on Tuesday.

Asked if he would have sent the men to the community had he known they were expressing the beliefs detailed in the messages, Supt Nobbs said: “No, certainly not”.

“If the starting point is an ill-disciplined workforce and a broad contempt … for the community in which they are operating in … there’s no foundation for the plan,” he told the inquest, now in its fourth week.

“Anything that will flow from that is destined to fail.”

Supt Nobbs acknowledged the texts were not an isolated issue and said they had the potential to bring the NT police force into disrepute and erode community confidence in officers.

He said had he been aware he would have instigated disciplinary proceedings and investigated to better understand “what underpins this thinking”.

“I would certainly want to have an appreciation of how widespread it is and whether this was a symptom of something more egregious,” he said.

The inquest continues on Wednesday.