Sergeant denies hiding evidence in Rolfe murder trial

The police sergeant in charge of the remote Yuendumu station the night Kumanjayi Walker was shot and killed has denied intentionally concealing evidence from the trial of the officer who shot the teenager, as more footage of the fatal night is released.Show more

Exhibits submitted in the Zachary Rolfe murder trial depict events from before and after the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Kumanjayi Walker in 2019.

Constable Rolfe has pleaded not guilty to the murder of the Yuendumu teenager.

In CCTV footage from the station, Rolfe and other members of the Immediate Response team can be seen arming themselves with military-style assault weapons before heading out on patrol to gather information on Kumanjayi Walker's whereabouts.

While attempting to arrest Kumanjayi Walker, Constable Rolfe was stabbed in the shoulder with a pair of surgical scissors. The teenager died after being shot three times by Constable Rolfe.

Body-cam vision shows the officers returning to Yuendumu Police Station following the incident, and discussing Constable Rolfe's shoulder injury.

The footage has been released in the trial of Constable Rolfe in the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory in Darwin. He stands accused of murder, and the alternative charges of manslaughter and committing a violent act causing death.

In testimony on Friday, Sergeant Julie Frost, who can be seen in the body cam vision taken after the shooting - was the officer in charge of Yuendumu Police Station on the night Kumanjayi Walker was killed, Sgt Frost told the court she had drawn up the arrest plan for Constable Rolfe’s Immediate Response Team.

She described how the team was called in because there were “huge resource problems” in Yuendumu, including the decision of local health staff to leave the community and several break-ins.

Sgt Frost testified that the plan was to apprehend Kumanjayi Walker the following morning with the involvement of Police Officer Felix Alefaio.

"He had the local knowledge of the community. He also knew Kumanjayi Walker very well," said Frost.

She said one of the Immediate Response Team officers asked her what they should do if they came across Kumanjayi Walker.

She told the court: “By all means lock him up."

Under cross-examination by Rolfe’s defence lawyer David Edwardson QC, Sgt Frost told the court she had meant “if they saw [Kumanjayi Walker] walking on the street,” and not in the manner in which the arrest had taken place.

Sgt Frost was also taken to task about a chronology of events she had written in the days after the fatal shooting.

“Sergeant, you were asked, not only by me, but indeed by his Honour in the committal, whether there are any other notes in existence. And you said, 'No'."

“As a police officer that makes a record of what actually happened, even for your own purposes, you know perfectly well, [that record] is disclosable?”

"I didn’t consider them to be the notes that you were chasing," Sgt Frost replied.

Mr Edwardson, pursued the matter, accusing the Sergeant of "deliberately" concealing her notes.

“Incorrect," said Frost.

The trial is expected to run for a further three weeks.
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