‘How come he’s still in a job’: Indigenous elders query Zachary Rolfe’s ongoing police role to coroner
Residents in a remote Indigenous community where a Northern Territory police officer shot dead a teenager during an attempted arrest say they are “disgusted” the officer still has a job with the force.
Kumanjayi Walker died after Const Zachary Rolfe shot him three times during an attempted arrest in Yuendumu, north-west of Alice Springs, on 9 November 2019.
Rolfe was found not guilty of murder and two alternative charges after a six-week jury trial in the NT supreme court in Darwin earlier this year.
The Warlpiri elder Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves said on Tuesday: “People are very, very angry – they are not satisfied with what happened in Darwin.”
Asked by reporters if Yuendumu could finish its grieving for Walker, known as sorry business, without traditional justice, Hargraves said: “No, no.”
“Deep in our hearts, deep in our minds , deep in the community we want to see justice,” he said.
The inquest into Walker’s death is conducting a series of informal sittings in Yuendumu so Coroner Elisabeth Armitage can hear from community members.
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The two-day visit started on Monday with a tour of house 511, now known as Memory House, where Rolfe shot 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.
On Tuesday, there was a “yarning circle”, where members of the community told the coroner that in their view Rolfe should have, at the very least, lost his job as a policeman after killing Walker.
They also called for the NT and federal governments to recognise the Warl
piri community’s cultural authority in Yuendumu – which the group said had been lost during the Howard government’s intervention.
Leaders said health, education and service provision should be community-controlled to better service residents’ needs and provide them jobs.
The group explained that cultural payback or traditional justice – which can include spearing an offender – was an organised cultural ceremony for the community to witness and it was not carried out in haste.
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 Rolfe shot him.
Hargraves, asked by reporters how the community felt about Rolfe appearing as a witness on Wednesday, said: “It is so disgusting, so disgusting. We as a community are thinking, how come [Rolfe] is still in a job? How come he’s still in the NT?”
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.
Two months on, her presence and that of the legal parties, including Rolfe’s lawyer, Luke Officer, was welcomed. The inquest returns to Alice Springs on Wednesday where Rolfe is expected to appear.