A Northern Territory policeman has failed to have evidence about him excluded from an inquest into an Indigenous teen’s death.

October 19, 2022

A Northern Territory policeman who shot dead an Indigenous teenager during a bungled arrest was found to have above-normal aggression levels but recruited into the force anyway, an inquest has been told

Constable Zachary Rolfe was found to be an “excellent” police candidate overall in 2016, but the psych test results also showed he “may brush off the significance of the error, seek to minimise his own role or to blame others”.

The testing also revealed an above-average aggression score, a written decision rejecting the officer’s objections to proposed evidence at an Alice Springs inquest says.

“Whether Zachary will act with firm assertiveness or frank aggression cannot be determined from this scale alone,” the Australian Institute of Forensic Psychologists results included in the judgement said.

Three years later, Const Rolfe shot Kumanjayi Walker three times after the 19-year-old stabbed him in the shoulder with a small pair of scissors in Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community northwest of Alice Springs.

An inquest into the Walpiri man’s death on November 9, 2019 will also now consider evidence about Const Rolfe’s recreational drug use after Coroner Elisabeth Armitage on Tuesday rejected all of the officer’s objections to its inclusion.

“There is no evidence that suggests that Const Rolfe was affected by recreational drugs or alcohol at the time he shot and killed Kumanjayi Walker,” she said.

“But nor is there any objective evidence that he was not affected by recreational drugs or alcohol.

“That is because Constable Rolfe was not tested for those substances after the shooting.”

Ms Armitage said Const Rolfe’s text messages would provide the evidence about any recreational drug use.

The coroner will also consider evidence concerning a medication prescribed to Const Rolfe that may also have impacted on his decision-making.

Psychiatrist Alexander McFarlane’s evidence is that the drug was ‘likely to have impacted on (Const Rolfe’) capacity for behavioural inhibition to threat”.

The coroner ruled all the evidence from eight categories that Const Rolfe had objected to through his legal team would be included in the inquest.

“Const Rolfe submits that there is ‘no logical connection’ between this material and my assessment of the issues that arise out of the death of Kumanjayi Walker,” she said.

“I disagree.”

The inquest continues on Wednesday.