A remote Indigenous community says the Northern Territory policeman who shot a teenager dead should face payback to help it finish grieving.

November 15, 2022

Residents in a remote Indigenous community where a Northern Territory policeman shot dead a teenager during bungled arrest say traditional payback needs to happen so it can heal.

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

Elder Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves says the court system that found Const Rolfe not guilty of the 19-year-old’s murder failed to deliver justice for the Warlpiri community.

“People are very, very angry. They are not satisfied with what happened in Darwin,” he said on Tuesday in reference to the five-week jury trial.

“That’s the question they are asking today – how come he was acquitted.”

Asked if Yuendumu could finish its grieving for Mr Walker, known as sorry business, without traditional justice, Mr Hargraves said: “No, no”.

“Deep in our hearts, deep in our minds , deep in the community we want to see justice,” he said.

“We have not seen the blood of Zachary Rolfe. That tells us that is not the way it should have been. It tells us it is we have been disrespected.

“We as a community stand and fight for justice.”

It comes as the inquest into Mr Walker’s death conducts a series of informal sittings in Yuendumu so coroner Elisabeth Armitage can hear from community members.

The two-day visit started on Monday with a tour of house 511, now known as Memory House, where Const Rolfe shot Mr Walker in the back and torso as he resisted arrest.

It was followed by a truth-telling session with the broader community and a tour of other sites around the town that are relevant to the inquest.

It continues on Tuesday with a so-called yarning circle, where members of the community have told the coroner that Const Rolfe should have, at the very least, lost his job as a policeman after killing Mr Walker.

They also called for NT and federal governments to recognise the Warlpiri community’s cultural authority in Yuendumu, which the group said had been lost during the Howard government’s Intervention.

It said health, education and service provision should be community-controlled to better service residents’ needs and provide them jobs.

The group also explained cultural payback or traditional justice, which can include spearing an offender, saying it is an organised cultural ceremony for the community to witness and not carried out in haste.

Mr Walker’s cousin, Samara Fernandez‐Brown told the coroner the community had been frustrated to hear police officers tell the inquest they feared payback over the teen’s death in the hours after Const Rolfe shot him.

Earlier, Mr Hargraves criticised some of the evidence previously heard at a long-running inquest, labelling it “stories”.

“They are not happy about what had happened … when they read all those letters and the people who spoke, all the policemen,” he said.

Asked how the community felt about Const Rolfe appearing as a witness at the trial on Wednesday, he said: “It is so disgusting, so disgusting”.

“We as a community are thinking, how come (Const Rolfe is) still in a job? How come he’s still in the NT?” he said.

The coroner had planned to start the inquest with a visit to Yuendumu in early September but it was scrapped after some in the community objected.

More than two months on, her presence and that of the legal parties, including Const Rolfe’s lawyer, Luke Officer, was welcomed.

The inquest will return to Alice Springs on Wednesday.