A police officer who shot dead an Indigenous teenager in during an outback arrest has been sacked by the Northern Territory Police Force.
Zachary Rolfe shot Kumanjayi Walker, 19, three times in the remote community of Yuendumu, north-west of Alice Springs, on November 9, 2019.
The former constable was sacked on Tuesday, a spokesman for the force confirmed on Tuesday.
“A 31-year-old male police officer has been dismissed from the Northern Territory Police Force effective 4th April 2023,” it said in a statement.
“The officer was dismissed under section 78 of the Police Administration Act 1978 due to serious breaches of discipline during their policing career.”
Mr Rolfe was found not guilty at trial of murdering Mr Walker before becoming the subject of a wide-ranging coronial inquest into the death.
He later became the subject of a wide-ranging coronial inquest into Mr Walker’s death, vehemently fighting calls to give evidence during the proceedings.
A coroner heard Mr Rolfe used “blatantly” racist language in text messages with colleagues and allegedly used heavy-handed tactics when arresting some Indigenous Territorians, triggering several internal investigations.
It was also revealed that the soldier-turned-policeman was banned from applying to join the Queensland Police Force for a decade for failing to disclose that he’d been fined for being a public nuisance and for violent behaviour.
Mr Rolfe’s application to the NT police was also investigated, with the inquest told he failed to disclose stealing while he was a soldier in the Australian Defence Force in 2012.
He left Australia in February after writing an open letter defending his character and criticising the NT Police Force and its commissioner for how they handled the inquest.
“The coronial focus is still on me rather than on areas that could improve the circumstances of the NT,” he wrote in the 2500-word dispatch published in full on the “I support Zach Rolfe” Facebook page.
Mr Rolfe, who was born and raised in Canberra, also justified a series of messages in which he used derogatory terms towards Indigenous people, calling it “playground” language.
“I have used rude and racist terms regarding nearly every race, most often my own,” he wrote.
Mr Rolfe dedicated 600 words to outlining rescues and patrols he had conducted as a police officer.
In contrast, he said many details covered in the inquest had been taken out of context, “with several maligned cops talking badly about me”.
NT police leadership had used him as a pawn to satisfy their political goals, Mr Rolfe added in the post.
The inquest resumes later in 2023 when Mr Rolfe is scheduled to give evidence, pending the outcome of his appeal against an earlier Supreme Court decision that he could be compelled to take the stand.
-AAP
