The former police officer who fatally shot an Indigenous teenager during a botched arrest has been labelled a racist by the force which employed him.
The counsel for Northern Territory Police has told an inquest that Zachary Rolfe's attitudes are “inconsistent with policing anywhere in Australia”, but maintained the force itself was not inherently racist.
Warlpiri-Luritja man Kumanjayi Walker died after being shot by then-constable Rolfe during a botched arrest at a home in the Northern Territory community of Yuendumu in November 2019.
In March 2022, an NT Supreme Court jury acquitted Mr Rolfe of murdering the 19-year-old.
In closing submissions at the long-running inquest, NT Police counsel Ian Freckelton KC said the police were not going to provide platitudes.
“It is absolutely undeniable that Mr Rolfe is a racist," he told the inquest at Alice Springs.
“People who talk about ‘loser locals, c**ns, neanderthals … on the basis of their Aboriginality, are racists, and it's important to call it as it is.”
During the inquest, reams of text messages from Mr Rolfe's phone and those of fellow officers revealed they called Aboriginal people "n***as", "c**ns, and "neanderthals".
Dr Freckelton said Constable Rolfe’s decision to deviate on the night of the fatal shooting from the arrest plan, developed by his superior Sergeant Julie Frost, was due to his misogyny, disregard for authority and detest of 'bush cops'.
“The language in his texts is eloquent as to his values and his attitudes,” he said.
“Some of those who corresponded with him and communicated in a similar kind are the same, those are values which are just inconsistent with contemporary policing anywhere in Australia, and that includes the Northern Territory.”
He said the text messages uncovered during the inquest were relevant when understanding Mr Rolfe's broader behaviour, but cautioned coroner Elisabeth Armitage when considering them in relation to the cause of Mr Walker’s death.
“In our respectful submission, there is ample reason to conclude that his sexism, his antipathy toward authority, his contempt for bush police all played a role in why he did not comply with what was required of him by Sergeant Frost,” he said.
“So was racism a factor in what happened on 9 November 2019? In our submission, there is no clear evidence of this and it ends up being wholly speculative.”
Dr Freckelton said Mr Rolfe's behaviour should not reflect the culture of the entire NT Police.
“What we know about Mr Rolfe’s policing style is that it's impulsive, ill-conceived, overly hasty and unjustifiably aggressive,” he said.
“We apologise for the role members of the Northern Territory police force played in Kumanjayi Walker’s death, and for the events after his passing.”
NT Police said they sympathised with the Yuendumu community's calls for no more guns, but would have to "agree to disagree" as weapons were important to protect themselves or others in the community.
Counsel-assisting Peggy Dwyer SC is expected to release proposed findings by December 17.
After more than 5000 pages of transcripts, 1990 pages of written closing submissions and more than two years of hearings, Ms Armitage will consider the evidence before handing down her findings in February 2025.
She has been invited to hand them down in Yuendumu.
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