The family of Kumanjayi Walker have pleaded for answers into the death of the Aboriginal teenager during the first day of hearings at a coronial inquest in Mparntwe (Alice Springs).
It’s been almost three years since 19-year-old Kumanjayi Walker died in the remote community of Yuendumu, after being shot three times by NT Police Officer Zachary Rolfe during an attempted arrest.
A five-week Supreme Court trial in Darwin found Constable Zachary Rolfe not guilty on all charges, including murder.
'The pain we feel is real'
Travelling from the remote community about 300 kilometres from Mparntwe (Alice Springs) Kumanjayi Walker’s family and community elders told the coroner's court they were still waiting for the truth.
“Let’s have the courage to ask these serious questions,” Senior Warlpiri Elder Robin Japanangka Granites told the court.
Mr Granites said media had labelled the police officer a hero and Kumanjayi Walker a criminal, saying “since the shooting [Kumanjayi Walker] has been blamed for his own death.”
“The pain we feel is real, the past has led us here,” he told the inquest.
Robin Japanangka Granites recounted a long history of poor relations between Aboriginal people and police, dating back to the last state-sanctioned massacre of Aboriginal people in Australia, carried out just near Yuendumu in 1928.
“Seeing a young 19-year-old family member shot down by a police officer in his own home, in front of his own family, in his community and captured on a camera for the world to see,” Mr Granites said.
“No one deserves to die this way and Australia cannot allow this to happen again.”
He told the inquest “yapa” – Warlpiri people – had watched Constable Zachary Rolfe return to work, “[he] returned to the Northern Territory Police Force, for Yapa this is not fair.”
Warlpiri elder Robin Japanangka Granites told the coroner we are here to speak the truth all we have is our truth. Source: NITV
Repairing a fractured relationship
Speaking from his wheelchair, Senior Warlpiri Elder Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves also addressed the inquest, saying work was needed to mend the fractured relationship between police and the community on Warlpiri land.
“We must work together to make it a community that is safe for our children to live in,” Mr Hargraves said.
“We love the police! We want the police there because they uphold the law,” he said.
Mr Hargraves said the night Zachary Rolfe shot Kumanjayi Walker there were children in the surrounding area.
“We had to gather our children to protect them and later we went to the police station and we asked the question is he still alive,” he said.
“There was no answer, but there was an answer… the lights were out.
"We were terrified! The whole community was shattered."
He said police must start working with elders of the community.
“[Kumanjayi Walker] was someone very special to us,” he said.
Kumanjayi Walker’s cousin Samara Fernandez-Brown was in the community on the night he was shot.
She told the inquest she was also outside the police station waiting for answers, but none came. She said she was robbed of the opportunity to say goodbye.
“Kumanjayi died. I imagine he was in pain, he was scared, he was robbed of comfort.”
Warlpiri Elders extended an invitation to the Coroner to go to Yuendumu and talk to the community about what happened.
Coroner Elisabeth Armitage thanked Warlpiri Elders for their contribution.
“Your goal to work together to make the community a safe place for our children, we all share that goal,” she told the inquest.
Samara Fernandez-Brown young Yuendumu leader and Kumanjayi's cousin. Source: NITV
Understanding two perspectives
Coroner Armitage said understanding the two perspectives on Kumanjayi Walker’s shooting and death was critical to achieving that.
“We know from the trial verdict that Constable Rolfe was not guilty of any crime when he fired his glock pistol,” Coroner Armitage said in her opening address.
“We also know that a few days earlier, when two police officers were threatened with an axe, those officers backed away, they did not use any force at all, and no one got hurt.”
“On any given day in the Northern Territory, police officers find themselves in situations where they might be, and indeed are, confronted and threatened by an armed person or persons.”
She said police officers often had to make split-second decisions on how to respond.
Coroner Armitage said she had much to learn from the witnesses being called over the next two months and that she would be listening to their evidence carefully.
Warlpiri Elder Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves spoke on the opening day of the Coronial Inquest into the death of his nephew Kumanjayi Walker. Source: NITV
Objection to evidence by Rolfe's team
The coronial inquest was set to examine a number of issues, including whether there had been a militarisation of the NT Police, or if there had been evidence of any systemic racism within the service.
These issues were outlined at a preliminary hearing in May.
Today Counsel Assisting the Coroner told the court Constable Rolfe’s legal team had filed a last-minute submission outlining a series of objections to the scope of the inquest.
“Constable Rolfe has foreshadowed an objection to evidence relating to the question of whether he provided accurate and honest information during his recruitment,” Dr Peggy Dwyer said.
She said Const. Rolfe also objected to investigations into systemic racism in the Alice Springs police force; his use of force in other operations; and whether any inappropriate behaviour had been condoned, overlooked or excused by supervisors.
“It’s a shame those objections came so late, when so much care was taken by those assisting Your Honour, to list them so that these issues could be identified and understood by all members of the community, particularly Kumanjayi Walker’s family,” Dr Dwyer said.
The court heard legal arguments on Constable Rolfe’s objections will now be heard and considered on Friday.
Dr Peggy Dwyer told the court any death in custody was subject to a coronial investigation and the findings of those were important to improving systems and making communities safer.
Counsel assisting the Coroner has called for fair, accurate calm and reasonable reporting from the media.
The inquest has heard at least one witness no longer feels comfortable attending in person.
Zachary Rolfe’s barrister David Edwardson QC has lodged an objection with the Coroner to some elements of the Inquest. Source: NITV
