A medical expert has told Northern Territory police officer Zachary Rolfe's murder trial that 19-year-old Kumanjayi Walker may have survived the fatal shooting if there had been professional medical help in Yuendumu at the time.
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.
Mr Walker died in the remote community 300 kilometres north-west of Alice Springs about an hour after he was shot three times by Constable Rolfe during an attempted arrest in November 2019.
Constable Rolfe has pleaded not guilty to murder, as well alternative charges of manslaughter and engaging in a violent act causing death.
The court has previously heard police delivered first aid and took Mr Walker to the Yuendumu police station after the shooting because there were no health workers at the local clinic that day.
A doctor who reviewed Mr Walker's post-mortem told the Northern Territory Supreme Court on Monday that the first aid delivered by officers was appropriate for their skill level and the medical equipment available to them.
But Dr Michael Reade said police body-worn vision showed Mr Walker deteriorating and saying he was unable to breathe, and that at one point he was taking 48 breaths per minute.
He said Mr Walker died from a combination of blood loss and respiratory failure.
Crown prosecutor Sophie Callan SC asked: "It's your view, isn't it Dr Reade, that from the moment [the second of three shots hit Mr Walker] … in the circumstances present at the time, Kumanjayi Walker was going to die regardless of any efforts made by the police officers present?"
Dr Reade replied: "Yes, that's correct."
Dr Reade said Mr Walker would have needed immediate access to advanced resuscitation techniques that police did not have, followed by "damage-control surgery" which was only available in the Alice Springs Hospital.
"And that was too far away for him to access within the time available for him to access it," he said.
Under cross-examination, Dr Reade — who was giving evidence remotely by audio-visual link — gave a "qualified yes" when asked by defence barrister David Edwardson QC if Mr Walker could have survived had he had access to appropriate medical care.
"I estimated his chance of death would have been only around 1 per cent."
The court previously heard health workers had evacuated the community earlier on the day of the shooting after a spate of recent break-ins at staff accommodation.
Dr Reade said nurses would likely have been able to delay Mr Walker's death if the Yuendumu clinic had been staffed at the time of the shooting.
But he said it was "very much open to speculation" as to whether a medical retrieval team would have then been able to get him to the Alice Springs Hospital in time for advanced surgery.
Constable Rolfe's Glock pistol shown to jury
On Monday, the jury was also shown more crime scene photographs and a range of exhibits, including the Glock pistol fired by Constable Rolfe.
Constable Rolfe's police uniform, protective vest and accoutrement belt were also displayed in court, as were those of his partner, Constable Adam Eberl.
The jury was also shown the medical scissors with which Mr Walker struck Constable Rolfe in the shoulder before the shots were fired.
A senior forensic biologist with NT Police, Kate Cheong-Wing, told the court that analysis of blood samples on the end of the scissors contained "mixed DNA" matching that of Mr Walker, Constable Rolfe and Constable Eberl.
The trial has entered its third week and continues before Justice John Burns on Tuesday.
