Family hopes for change as inquest draws to an end
Keira Jenkins |
The family of a teenager who was fatally shot by a police officer are calling for “truth, accountability and justice” following a years-long coronial inquest.
Kumanjayi Walker was shot three times at close range by then-constable Zachary Rolfe at a home in the Northern Territory town of Yuendumu, in November 2019.
The death of the 19-year-old Warlpiri-Luritja man devastated the community, Mr Walker’s cousin Samara Fernandez-Brown said.
“We miss him and feel his loss deeply every single day, it will stain our country for generations to come,” she said in a statement.
In March 2022, an NT Supreme Court jury acquitted Mr Rolfe of murdering Mr Walker. He has since left the police force.
Over the course of the coronial inquest, which has faced several delays, text messages between Mr Rolfe and colleagues, littered with derogatory language were revealed, as were racist award certificates, which triggered a probe in early 2024 by the NT corruption watchdog.
It has been a gruelling, shocking and devastating process for family and the community, Ms Fernandez-Brown said, as they prepare for Coroner Elisabeth Armitage’s findings, to be handed down in Yuendumu on Monday.
“Racism killed Kumanjayi. Racism from NT Police, the NT government, from Zachary Rolfe,” Ms Fernandez-Brown said.
“Yet none of them have ever been held to account for Kumanjayi’s death.
“We are heartbroken and exhausted after many long years, but we are hoping change is coming.”
During the inquest, Mr Walker’s family called for an independent police ombudsman to be established, self-determination for Yuendumu and other Aboriginal communities, investment in culturally-safe alternatives to prison and punitive policing, the banning of guns in community and a reckoning with the over-incarceration of Aboriginal people in the territory.
Senior Warlpiri Elder Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves, said if the NT Police Commissioner Martin Dole or other officers intended on going to Yuendumu for the findings, they should come without guns, and no “empty words”.
“If he (Dole) is just coming to say sorry he is not welcome – how many times have they said sorry and still harmed us,” Mr Hargraves said.
“If Dole comes with news of real change that would be different. If he said police would put down their guns like we wanted, yes, he would be welcome.
“But they are now giving out more guns to more police to shoot our people.”
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