A court has released images of the injuries sustained by a police officer only moments before he shot an Aboriginal man dead.
The Northern Territory supreme court has heard Zachary Rolfe, 30, shot dead Kumanjayi Walker in November 2019 while trying to arrest him at the remote community of Yuendumu, 300km north-west of Alice Springs.
Rolfe’s trial, for the alleged murder of Walker, started in Darwin on Monday. On Tuesday, the court released some exhibits in the case to the media.
Among the exhibits are images that were shown to the jury of the injuries allegedly sustained by Rolfe immediately before he shot Walker, a 19-year-old Warlpiri man.
The court has heard Rolfe shot Walker three times after he had attempted to arrest him in relation to an outstanding warrant at Walker’s grandmother’s house in Yuendumu.
The court heard Walker had been asked to put his hands behind his back by Rolfe only seconds after police entered the property. But Walker pulled a pair of medical scissors from his right pocket and brought them down in a stabbing motion into Rolfe’s left shoulder.
The images of Rolfe, taken the day of and the day after the shooting, show a red wound almost directly on top of his shoulder. In court, the wound was described as a “small puncture wound”.
Immediately after the stabbing, Rolfe’s colleague, Constable Adam Eberl, struggled with Walker, who was shot soon after for the first time by Rolfe, the court has heard. The first shot is not subject to any charges.
Prosecutor Philip Strickland SC told the Northern Territory supreme court on Tuesday that as Eberl and Walker fell on to a mattress on the floor and continued to struggle, Eberl gained control of Walker. Strickland said Erbel was on Walker, whose right arm, which had been holding the scissors, was pinned under him.
Rolfe placed his left hand on Eberl’s back, and pressed his right hand, holding his Glock semi-automatic handgun, against the left side of Walker’s body, Strickland said. Rolfe then pulled the trigger twice in quick succession.
It is the second and third shots that are subject to the murder charge. If a jury finds Rolfe not guilty of murder, he faces a charge of manslaughter, and if he is found not guilty of that charge, a further charge of engaging in a violent act causing death. The police officer has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The newly released images also include a photo shown to the jury of a small room where the incident took place. It occurred immediately inside the only door to the property that was accessible, Strickland has told the court.
Strickland told the court Walker was confronted by police as he walked across the room, and the stabbing occurred along the wall on the left side of the room. He said the mattress where the second and third shots were allegedly fired is on the opposite side of the room, immediately to the right of the doorway, and in the corner.
On Wednesday, police officers who the court has heard were threatened with an axe by Walker during a previous attempt at arresting him, are expected to give evidence in the trial.
David Edwardson QC, for Rolfe, said he would defend his actions as being reasonable and justifiable in the context of the danger faced by him and Erbel. Edwardson said Rolfe was acting in self-defence, and to defend the life of Erbel, when he fired the second and third shots, and his training had emphasised that “edged weapon equals gun”.
