Kumanjayi Walker inquest: coroner declines Zachary Rolfe’s request to recuse herself from case

NT coroner Elisabeth Armitage said it was ‘normal, especially for a person with judicial training, to listen to someone express grief or anger without being ‘overborne’ by those expressions.’ Photograph: (A)manda Parkinson/The Guardian

The coroner presiding over the inquest into the shooting death of Kumanjayi Walker has declined to recuse herself from the case after an application was made by former Northern Territory police officer Zachary Rolfe.

Two weeks before the inquest into the death was set to resume on Monday 23 October, Rolfe applied for coroner Elisabeth Armitage to recuse herself on the grounds of apprehended bias.