WARNING: This article contains offensive language.
Former Police Officer Zachary Rolfe has acknowledged his own racist language and pointed to a broader culture of racism within the NT Police Service, at an explosive coronial inquest into the death of an Aboriginal teenager who he shot.
Warlpiri and Luritja man Kumanjayi Walker was shot in the chest at close range three times during a botched arrest in the Aboriginal community of Yuendumu in 2019.
Zachary Rolfe was . He is no longer with the NT Police Force.
A coronial inquest into Kumanjayi Walker’s death has been continuing for almost two years, with recent delays from a failed attempt to have Mr Rolfe's evidence limited or excused from the inquest.
Now living in New South Wales, Mr Rolfe has been compelled to return to Central Australia to give evidence at a coronial inquest into the death of Kumanjayi Walker.
Explaining his own use of offensive and racist language, Mr Rolfe told the coroner he had had an opportunity to read and reflect on the racist language he’d used.
“The fact that I've, for example, said c**n in my messages, the fact that that's been made public which would have caused hurt to a number of people, especially kids, who should have been able to trust the police force, like that kills me,” Mr Rolfe said.
“So, I'm sorry for that, but I can't take it back.”
Mr Rolfe alleged that kind of language was commonplace in the police force with extremely racist terms and genitalia descriptions used to describe Aboriginal people, not just within the police force but in the community.
“There's a section of the Todd Tavern that's open between 10am and 2pm, or at least it was when I was here,” Mr Rolfe said.
He said that the bar was only attended by Aboriginal patrons.
“Basically the whole place is known in Alice Springs, and I believe to the point where it's mentioned over the radio, as ‘the Animal Bar’ because it's an Aboriginal only bar.”
Mr Rolfe claimed racist language was used every day and suggested officers who had been giving evidence otherwise at the inquest were not telling the truth.
“I could hear something racist, nearly every day and the evidence that I've heard so far from people that say they haven't in Alice Springs is completely wrong,” Mr Rolfe said.
He described a culture of racism that was so entrenched in the NT Police force that the service’s most elite taskforce held a derogatory ceremony, handing out a racist award for the police officer who had behaved most like an Aboriginal.
"The award was for exhibiting the most c**n like behaviour of the year and the staff would make the recipient dress up in a toga and give him a wooden club with nails at the end of it which would often live above the [Territory Response Group] cave door."
He said there are photographs that prove this and members of the TRG who took part in those awards are now senior management in Police.
There are suppression orders in place over the names of officers that Mr Rolfe’s claims were involved in racist behaviour.
The coroner granted immunity to Mr Rolfe to allow him to answer questions on his illegal drug use, false statements to police, and on seven occasions where his use of force came into question when engaging with Aboriginal people.
One of those incidents was the arrest of Aboriginal man Malcolm Ryder who received two cuts to his forehead and 13 stitches after an interaction with Mr Rolfe.
The claims of racism go to the heart of what the coroner is investigating in an attempt to stop further loss of life in the future.
Mr Rolfe faced significant scrutiny over issues of integrity, admitting he lied about his use of MDMA and Marijuana on police application forms.
He said his failure to disclose, where required by police application forms, facts about his conviction for stealing and his fine after being found guilty of charges of public nuisance and violent behaviour was an honest mistake.
Mr Rolfe is expected to continue giving evidence tomorrow.
