The remote Aboriginal community of Yuendumu has welcomed the coroner who is investigating the police shooting death of Kumanjayi Walker with a ceremony, song and sorrow.
Constable Zachary Rolfe shot and killed 19-year-old Walker during a bungled arrest at a home in Yuendumu in November 2019. Rolfe was charged with Walker’s murder four days after the shooting and acquitted in March following a supreme court trial.
NT coroner Elisabeth Armitage travelled to the tiny town with a population of 800 on Monday to meet community members and hear first hand how Walker’s death had affected them. She was formally welcomed by senior Warlpiri elders during two ceremonies – one by senior men, the other by senior women – before visiting the house where Walker was shot in the back and torso.
