Key Points
- Zachary Rolfe has been sacked from the NT police force.
- Mr Rolfe shot dead Kumanjayi Walker in an outback arrest in 2019.
- Mr Rolfe was found not guilty at trial of murdering Mr Walker before becoming the subject a coronial inquest into the death.
This article contains references/and or images of a deceased Indigenous person/Torres Strait Islander/Aboriginal person.
A police officer who shot dead an Indigenous teenager during an outback arrest has been sacked by the Northern Territory Police Force.
Zachary Rolfe shot Kumanjayi Walker, 19, three times in the remote community of Yuendumu, northwest of Alice Springs, on November 9, 2019.
The former constable was sacked on Tuesday, a spokesman for the force confirmed on Tuesday.
"A 31-year-old male police officer has been dismissed from the Northern Territory Police Force effective 4th April 2023," it said in a statement.
"The officer was dismissed under section 78 of the Police Administration Act 1978 due to serious breaches of discipline during their policing career."
Mr Rolfe was found not guilty at trial of murdering Mr Walker before becoming the subject of a wide-ranging coronial inquest into the death.
He vehemently fought calls for him to give evidence before writing an open letter defending his character and fleeing the country.
In the letter published on Facebook, Mr Rolfe also criticised the NT Police Force and its commissioner for how they handled the inquest into the shooting.
"Despite this, the coronial focus is still on me rather than on areas that could improve the circumstances of the NT," he wrote in February.
He also justified a series of texts in which he used derogatory terms towards Indigenous people, calling it "playground" language.
"I have used rude and racist terms regarding nearly every race, most often my own," he also wrote.
He dedicated 600 words to outlining rescues and patrols he had conducted as a police officer.
In contrast, he said many details covered in the inquest had been taken out of context, "with several maligned cops talking badly about me".
NT police leadership had used him as a pawn to satisfy their political goals, Rolfe said in the post.
"Right now, the NT Police is broken."
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