The jury has now been reduced to 12 and the last reserve juror has been called up to replace the second juror to be sent home since the trial began, this time due to COVID-19 concerns.
Constable Rolfe has been charged with murder and two alternative charges of manslaughter and doing a violent act causing death.
Constable Rolfe has pleaded not guilty to Murder and the two alternative charges.
In his final address to the jury, Crown Prosecutor Philip Strickland SC said Constable Rolfe intentionally engaged in conduct that intended to kill or cause serious harm to Kumanjayi Walker when he shot and killed the 19 year-old at Yuendumu on November 9, 2019.
“When the accused fired the first and second shots he intended either to cause serious harm or death to Kumanjayi Walker.”
Mr Strickland advised the jury that if they could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Constable Rolfe was not “thinking at all about whether he intended to kill or cause serious harm” but his actions “were either reckless or negligent” they could consider the charge of manslaughter.
The Crown added they could also consider the third charge of doing a violent act causing death “if you’re not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt about the intention in relation to murder or in relation to manslaughter.”
Mr Strickland asked the jury to consider the central issue in the Crown case, ”was he legally justified in firing the second and third shots?”
He said the Crown must also disprove three main elements of Constable Rolfe’s defence; that he acted in self-defence, he was acting in the course of his duty as a police officer, and it was “reasonably necessary to fire the second and third shots to carry out his functions as a police officer.”
Mr Strickland told the jury the crown case boiled down to two things.
“That Constable Eberl in fact had effectively restrained Kumanjayi Walker when he was on top of him on the mattress”
And that, “the accused did not hold an honest belief that it was necessary for him to fire the second and third shots in order to protect himself – those two shots were not a reasonable response.“
Mr Strickland told the jury the evidence before them proves that Constable Rolfe did not see Kumanjayi Walker stabbing Constable Eberl’s and he did not fear for his partner's life when he fired shots two and three.
“The evidence the accused gave in court was a lie and the accused lied to justify the unjustifiable. “
Earlier Constable Zachary Rolfe’s defence team called their last witness to the stand, decorated former Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Ben McDevitt.
Former AFP Assistant Commissioner Ben McDevitt was the last witness to give evidence at the Rolfe trial. Source: AAP
Mr McDevitt spent 38 years working in law enforcement and was a long serving member of the AFP’s elite special operations team.
He also wrote the AFP’s tactical options model in 1996 that was largely adopted by NT police.
Mr McDevitt told the court he had been retained as a private consultant for the accused, but that in his view, Constable Rolfe was acting in line with his training when he shot and killed Kumanjayi Walker more than two years ago.
“the default response option, which is taught to police around the country, is that when they are confronted with an edged weapon, the default option is the firearm. “
Mr Devitt added that “the teaching for police is to fire as many shots as they deem necessary to remove the threat.”
Mr McDevitt said in his view, Constable Rolfe’s arresting partner Constable Eberl was involved in a dynamic and dangerous struggle with Kumanjayi Walker when the second and third shots were fired.
He was also asked to review the Crown’s expert evidence from Detective Senior Sergeant Andrew Barram, “that Rolfe had gone from a standing position in a fairly equal fight to being on the ground with Constable Eberl on top and pinning Mr Walker down."
“It's just an extraordinary assertion and it's a ludicrous proposition. It goes against the very training material that apparently Sergeant Barram has given to so many officers.”
His evidence concluded after he was asked by the defence, “is there anything that Zachary Rolfe did, on 9 November 2019, which appears to you to be inconsistent with the training that he received?”
“No, nothing.”
The Crown will continue its final address tomorrow morning where the shooting of Kumanjayi Walker in house 511 is expected to be examined in detail.
Once the prosecution concludes, the defence will deliver their final address before the judge sums up the case and sends the jury out to decide on their verdict.
