Every day for nearly thirteen weeks, no matter the weather, a tent appeared on the grass opposite the Alice Springs Local Court.
WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains an image of a person who has died, used with the permission of their family. It also contains offensive, racist language heard in court.
"Court Lawns Yapa Support Camp" read a sign hung in front.
"Tell the truth," read another.
Each morning, every lawyer and witness involved in the coronial inquest into the death of Kumanjayi Walker would walk past it.
It was a silent show of Warlpiri strength on Arrente country as Mr Walker's family and community — who travelled 300 kilometres to court from Yuendumu — gathered in his memory day after day.
They often watched the live stream of the inquest unfolding in the courtroom across the road, where shocking evidence was put to the coroner about the police shooting of one of their own.
On the lawn, they absorbed the inquest in their own space and could largely ignore the animosity between barristers in the courtroom, as each asked questions — and made objections — with their own clients' interests at heart.
Over three months, in a courtroom where the rules of evidence don't apply, the coroner's deep dive into the death of Mr Walker stretched well beyond the events of November 9, 2019.
NT Coroner Elisabeth Armitage examined the culture of the Northern Territory police force, hearing allegations of use-of-force incidents being "covered up" and officers openly using racist language.
She investigated the personal history, and private text messages, of Constable Zachary Rolfe and his past career in the Australian Army.
She heard about the long criminal history of Mr Walker and the trauma he suffered as a child, bounced between family carers and the youth justice system.
She witnessed for herself the level of poverty in Yuendumu, where the shooting happened, and listened as Warlpiri witnesses explained just how different their system of law was to hers.
At the outset, Judge Armitage asked the inquest: "Do I know the story of Kumanjayi Walker and Constable Zachary Rolfe? Do you?"
Three months into evidence, this is how close she's gotten to an answer.
The evidence not heard at trial
The cause and circumstances of Mr Walker's death have never been in question.
The 19-year-old was shot by Constable Rolfe during an attempted arrest, after he stabbed the officer in the shoulder with a pair of scissors.
Constable Rolfe was acquitted of murder, manslaughter and engaging in a violent act causing death after a five-week Supreme Court trial earlier this year, with the jury accepting he acted in self-defence, good faith, and in the reasonable performance of his duties.
As the coroner's inquiry delved beyond the shooting itself, evidence ruled inadmissible by the trial judge was laid bare for the inquest.
Text messages downloaded from Constable Rolfe's phone and shown at the inquest revealed the use of racist language among territory police officers, including two sergeants, with one text, the coroner heard, implying officers would "act up" for body-worn cameras.
Footage of several instances of Constable Rolfe using force was shown to the coroner, including arrests that resulted in injuries and one — which was described by a superintendent as "violent" and "unnecessary" — that saw the officer shut the lid of a rubbish bin on a teenager who was hiding inside.
The court heard the force's professional standards command had raised concerns about Constable Rolfe "repeatedly" engaging in "concerning behaviour", but that there was "no record of any action being taken" by his supervisors in the months prior to Mr Walker's death.
The coroner heard investigations into the incidents concluded that none of Constable Rolfe's 46 use-of-force reports amounted to findings of excessive force and the coroner also heard it was not an "exceptionally high" number of incidents.
At the time he applied to the force in 2016, Constable Rolfe was deemed an "excellent" candidate before going on to dux his recruit squad.
But the coroner heard a psychologist who interviewed Constable Rolfe for the job wouldn't have recommended the officer be hired if he'd known at the time that he had failed to disclose prior disciplinary action in the army.
The inquest was told Constable Rolfe was also earlier banned from applying to the Queensland Police force for 10 years, after failing to disclose a fine he received for "public nuisance, violent behaviour" in Townsville.
The IRT called out to Yuendumu
Constable Rolfe and his specialist Immediate Response Team (IRT) colleagues were sent to Yuendumu on the afternoon of November 9, 2019.
They were told local officers needed respite and assistance with the arrest of Mr Walker, who had two days earlier run at officers with an axe as they attempted to take him into custody for breaching a court order.
By the time the IRT and a dog handler left Alice Springs, the body-worn camera footage of "the axe incident" had been viewed several times. Mr Walker was seen as a "high risk" arrest target and the call-out requested the IRT bring AR-15 weapons and beanbag shotguns with them.
The officers told the coroner they were under the impression their primary mission was to make the arrest.
As they left the Yuendumu Police Station to gather intelligence on Mr Walker's whereabouts that night, they said they were told by local Sergeant Julie Frost that if they came across him then "by all means, arrest him".
But Sergeant Frost said she had devised a plan for the IRT to conduct "high visibility patrols" that night, before meeting a local officer at 5am the next morning to effect a safe arrest of Mr Walker.
The coroner heard, repeatedly, that early morning arrests were typically safest.
Sergeant Frost told the inquest she had made a deal with Mr Walker's family that he would not be arrested on the afternoon of November 9, to allow him to attend his grandfather's funeral.
It was agreed that he would present to the police station after the commemorations, though no time frame was ever specified.
Superintendent Jody Nobbs, who had approved Sergeant Frost's plan, became emotional as he watched footage of the IRT in Yuendumu looking for Mr Walker later that night.
It was "outside the scope" of his instructions to Sergeant Frost, he told the coroner, and he should have been informed of any changes to the plan.
The 'calculated deception'
Less than half an hour after the IRT left the police station that evening, they found Mr Walker at house 511, where the struggle that ended in his death broke out.
Around an hour after he was shot, at about 7:30pm, Mr Walker took his last breath on the floor of a police cell.
But his family, who were waiting outside the police station, were under the impression he had been flown to Alice Springs for medical attention.
They later learned the Royal Flying Doctors Service-branded plane they saw land in Yuendumu that night was in fact bringing in heavily armed, tactical police, and taking out Constable Rolfe.
The court heard officers asked health staff to drive an ambulance to the airstrip, as part of a convoy with police, furthering the ruse.
Mr Walker's body remained alone in the station.
Police told the coroner they felt the "calculated deception" of the Yuendumu community that night was necessary to prevent a "catastrophic outcome".
The coroner heard they feared the police station would be stormed, riots would break out and that there would be "payback" against police.
Rocks were thrown at the station and a small spot fire was started at the health clinic, while a nurse was injured when rocks were thrown at her ambulance.
Community members who were outside the police station that night told the inquest they were mostly calm — fearing another police shooting if violence broke out amongst the crowd — as they begged officers for news about Mr Walker's condition.
Mr Walker's cousin told the coroner despite feeling "angry and frustrated" about the lack of information they were getting from officers, the crowd was "subdued" by elders outside the station.
No nurses in the community
On the night Mr Walker suffered three bullet wounds to his abdomen, the inquest heard the only medical attention he could receive was from the police officer who fired the shots.
The first aid efforts of Constable Rolfe and his colleagues were praised in court. The coroner heard they did everything they could to save him with the training and equipment they had available.
But the question of why there were no health workers in the community that night was one largely unanswered until now.
Hours before Mr Walker was shot, the NT Health Department evacuated its staff from Yuendumu following an "upward trajectory" in crime that health clinic staff felt was targeted at them.
Over three days in the lead-up to November 9, six houses and cars belonging to clinic staff were the targets of attempted or actual break-ins and a manager told the inquest there was an "extreme staff safety risk or perceived risk".
But the coroner heard there were "breakdowns" in communication between nursing staff in Yuendumu and managers in Alice Springs, which led to usual protocols not being followed and a lack of consultation with Warlpiri staff, elders, and police, before the clinic in a community of around 800 people was left empty.
There was also confusion around why nurses who said they were willing to stay in the nearby Yuelamu community, in case of emergencies, were ultimately evacuated to Alice Springs.
Two nurses — based 70 kilometres away in Yuelamu — were left to care for more than 1,000 people across two remote communities.
The inquest goes to Yuendumu
During a historic 300-kilometre journey from the courtroom to Yuendumu, the coroner heard directly from Mr Walker's family over two days.
The conversations in Yuendumu were not taken to be formal evidence, but counsel assisting the coroner Peggy Dwyer assured community they were being heard.
"All of it will be taken into account," Dr Dwyer said.
Mr Walker's cousin, Samara Fernandez-Brown, said the inquest's visit to the community was an important opportunity to talk about Warlpiri culture in their own space.
"There's a real, deep need to understand why it got to what it did and how it got to losing Kumanjayi," she said.
"They are all really important pieces of the puzzle and if we don't look at all of those bigger pieces, we're never going to get to a place of fixing and coming to a solution."
The timing of the trip — the day before Constable Rolfe took the stand — highlighted the juxtapositions that had slowly unravelled within the courtroom.
On Monday and Tuesday, the coroner saw and heard about Warlpiri culture and 'Parumpurru' — or Walpiri justice — and how its overlaps with western law are almost non-existent.
Under traditional "payback", Mr Walker's death called for a "spear across the legs" of Constable Rolfe, the coroner heard.
By Wednesday, she had excused Constable Rolfe from giving evidence, after he raised a complex question of law that could be taken as far as the High Court.
Further sittings scheduled for next year
After three months flying in and out of Alice Springs, Judge Armitage has now gone home to Darwin and the more than 20 lawyers from out of town have left, too.
But without their opportunity to put questions to one of the men at the centre of the inquest — Constable Rolfe – their jobs are far from over.
Constable Rolfe is, pending Supreme Court action, expected to give evidence when the inquest resumes in February next year.
After that, it'll be months before the coroner hands down her findings and recommendations.
For now, the Yapa support tent has been packed away.
But it's only a matter of time before the Alice Springs court lawns become a second home for Warlpiri people again.
