A police officer charged with murder over the shooting of an Aboriginal man has told the court that the man put a hand on his gun during the fatal incident.
Zachary Rolfe, who continued his evidence in the Northern Territory supreme court on Thursday, also told the court Kumanjayi Walker appeared to repeatedly stab another officer after a shot was fired.
Rolfe shot Walker three times while trying to arrest him on 9 November 2019 in the remote community of Yuendumu, about 300km from Alice Springs, the court previously heard.
The court previously heard Walker, a 19-year-old Warlpiri man, had stabbed Rolfe with a pair of scissors shortly before the first shot was fired. Rolfe is not charged in relation to this shot.
He is charged in relation to the second and third shots fired at Walker. He has pleaded not guilty, and his lawyers have argued his actions on the day were justified in light of the risk that Walker posed to him and a colleague, the then-constable Adam Eberl.
Rolfe told the court on Thursday that his recollection of the night was that almost immediately after he had asked Walker to put his hands behind his back he started to resist.
He said Walker started to strike him with his right arm, in a downward motion, and he thought it was “strange” Walker was not using his knuckles as he raised his left arm and left shoulder to protect his neck. He said that at this time he noticed Walker had a “metal blade” in his right hand, and that he was stabbed in the top of his shoulder as he had his left arm extended.
He said that soon after he used his left fist to jab Walker in the face.
Rolfe told the court that as he raised his left arm he also instinctively reached for his Glock handgun with his right hand, and he noticed Walker had his left hand on the weapon.
He said he then twisted his hips back with speed to knock Walker’s hand from the gun, and then stepped back, at which time he said Walker’s attention turned to Eberl.
Rolfe said that he feared for Eberl’s life and soon after drew and fired his gun for the first time. He noticed the shot had hit Walker, but believed the shot had “not at all” incapacitated him.
Soon after, Rolfe said he saw the pair fall to the ground, where they continued to fight. He said he saw Walker’s body behind Eberl, with both men facing the same direction.
He told the court he believed he could see Walker’s right arm moving and repeatedly stabbing Eberl – who he knew was not wearing body armour – in the chest region. Eberl was found to have a minor scratch near his left armpit after the struggle, but he told the court during an earlier hearing he could recall it being caused by Walker.
Rolfe said that he then walked across the room to the pair, placed his hand on Eberl to ensure he did not move back into his line of fire during the struggle, and shot Walker twice more in the side of his body.
At the time, he said he feared for Eberl’s life, and that he had been trained to use his forearm in such situations.
“I believed he could have been seriously wounded or potentially suffered a fatal stab wound in that fight,” he said.
Rolfe was asked by one of his barristers, David Edwardson QC, why he had not put his hand on his gun when he entered House 511, as he had when searching another house for Walker only minutes earlier.
Rolfe said that he didn’t “perceive a threat”, and that he did not recognise Walker when he first walked towards the officers in House 511. He said he also did not notice Walker had a hand in his right pocket, which the court has previously heard is where police suspect the scissors had been hidden.
“I believed we were just going to have a conversation,” Rolfe said.
Rolfe said that he understood that when Eberl said to him “did you, fuck” after the third shot was fired that he was referring to whether he had shot Walker.
He said that he believed the incident had left Eberl in a “heightened state” and that he was “just suffering from auditory exclusion” and had therefore not heard the shots.
Rolfe said that was why he had responded to Eberl’s query with “it’s all good, he had scissors in his hand, he was stabbing me, he was stabbing you”.
Rolfe was asked extensive questions by Edwardson about what he discussed at Yuendumu police station in the minutes before he shot Walker.
Prosecutor Philip Strickland SC has previously told the court that understanding the plan that was in place regarding Walker’s arrest and who knew about it prior to the shooting is valuable context that should be considered by the jury alongside the shooting itself.
Rolfe told the court that the Yuendumu sgt, Julie Frost, told him on the night of 9 November 2019 that her preference was for Walker to be arrested at 5am the following day as she was tired, wanted to sleep and have the night off.
Frost denied in her evidence that wanting to sleep was the main reason for this plan. She agreed she was tired and that fatigue in local members was part of the reason for the IRT deployment, but the main reason for the early morning arrest plan was to grab Walker when he was likely asleep and another local officer could assist with identifying him.
Rolfe said Frost told him there was no new intelligence about where Walker could be, and that she agreed with a course of action he proposed for the officers to introduce themselves to locals given they were “guests” of the community while gathering information on where Walker could be. He said Frost told him multiple times that if they happened across Walker they should arrest him.
He said he did not receive a copy of a document known as the operational plan from Frost, and that she did not speak to him about it.
He said Frost told him he could randomly breath test drivers during his shift, which he said “confused” him as it was his understanding his sole “mission” was to arrest Walker.
Rolfe also tried to clarify what he described as “confusion” regarding evidence given by other witnesses, including that given by multiple police about the term “clearing” a house. He said the term was interchangeable with “check” in the context of searching houses in Yuendumu.
Under cross-examination from Strickland, Rolfe said he had attempted to join the elite ADF Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) during a “rut” in his policing career, but had to withdraw from the recruitment process because of injury.
But he denied he was drawn to the “excitement” or “adrenaline” of high risk or tactical operations, such as those he had occasionally performed with the NT Immediate Response Team (IRT), and that he was hoping to be part of a mission to arrest Walker.
“I wouldn’t have been upset in the slightest if I hadn’t have been called up,” Rolfe said.
The cross-examination is expected to continue on Friday.
