Northern Territory police officer Zachary Rolfe has told his murder trial he feared for his life and that of his colleague when he fatally shot Yuendumu man Kumanjayi Walker during an attempted arrest.
WARNING: This article contains body-worn footage of the shooting shown during the trial.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains an image of a person who has died.
The photograph of Kumanjayi Walker is used with permission of his family.
Constable Rolfe, 30, fired his Glock pistol three times at Mr Walker inside a home in the community north-west of Alice Springs in November 2019.
The shots were fired moments after the 19-year-old stabbed Constable Rolfe in the shoulder with a pair of medical scissors.
Constable Rolfe has pleaded not guilty to murder and two alternative charges in relation to the second and third shots, which the prosecution says were not legally justified.
During his second day on the stand in the NT Supreme Court, Constable Rolfe continued his account of what took place after he and Constable Eberl confronted Mr Walker inside the house.
Under questioning from his defence barrister, who replayed the body-worn footage to the court, Constable Rolfe said Mr Walker began resisting when told to place his hands behind his back, and then attacked the officers.
"I saw him holding a blade in a dagger-like grip … and then he stabbed me in my left shoulder," he told the court.
Constable Rolfe said he then reached for his gun and found Mr Walker's hand on it, and, as he stepped back, saw the 19-year-old's attention switch to his fellow officer, Constable Adam Eberl.
He said he "immediately feared for Eberl's life" and believed Mr Walker was trying to stab his partner, who was not wearing body armour.
"So I drew my Glock and when it was safe to fire, still fearing for Eberl's life, I fired one round into the centre of mass of Kumanjayi," he said.
He told the court he was following his training to aim at "the biggest target you have" by firing at Mr Walker's torso and that he was trained to "continue firing until we achieve incapacitation."
He said Mr Walker was not contained after the first shot and was continuing to struggle after falling to the ground with Constable Eberl.
"I could see Kumanjayi's right arm with the blade in it still moving and stabbing Constable Eberl on the ground," he said.
He said he placed his hand on Constable Eberl's back to ensure his partner did not move into his line of fire and fired the second and third shots into Kumanjayi's centre of mass.
He disagreed with the prosecution argument that Mr Walker was under Constable Eberl's control before the second and third shots were fired, and a police training expert who this week told the court that non-lethal tactics should have been used at that point.
"I believe there was still an immediate threat to Eberl's life and my training states that I should not go 'hands on' with someone with an edged weapon unless I cannot use my firearm – that's how I was trained," he said.
He said he had not believed his Taser would have been effective in the circumstances and did not have time to verbally command that Mr Walker drop his weapon, which he realised after the shooting was a pair of scissors.
Describing the exchange between himself and Constable Eberl after the shots were fired, Constable Rolfe said he thought his partner was in a "heightened state" and that needed to explain that Mr Walker had been shot.
Constable Eberl is heard on the body-worn vision saying: "Did you — fuck."
In response Constable Rolfe says: "It's all good, he was stabbing me. It's all good, he's got scissors in his hand. He was stabbing me, he was stabbing you."
Cross-examination by prosecution begins
Under cross-examination from the prosecution, Constable Rolfe agreed that firing the second and third shots at close range could impact Mr Walker's vital organs and likely cause death or serious harm.
Crown prosecutor Philip Strickland SC noted that after being shot, Mr Walker was crying out for his adopted mother Leanne.
Mr Stickland asked Constable Rolfe if he thought the injured man was in agony.
"Yes, he seemed to be in pain," Constable Rolfe said.
He was also asked if he enjoyed the "adrenaline and the excitement" of deployments with the Alice Springs-based Immediate Response Team (IRT), which was sent to Yuendumu on the day of the shooting.
Constable Rolfe replied: "No, it was work. I enjoyed my work in general."
A former soldier, who served in Afghanistan prior to joining the police force in 2016, Constable Rolfe told the court that he applied to join the Special Air Service (SAS) unit within the Australian Defence Force in 2018.
"To be honest, at that point in time, I was in a bit of a rut in the police force and I was looking at other career paths," he said.
He rejected Mr Strickland's suggestion that he was "keen" to be deployed to Yuendumu after watching a video of Mr Walker threatening local officers with an axe several days before the shooting.
"I was indifferent … If I got called up, I would've accepted, I wouldn't have been upset in the slightest if I didn't get called up," he said.
The prosecution is expected to continue its cross-examination of Constable Rolfe when the trial resumes tomorrow.
