A police officer who fatally shot an Indigenous teenager in the NT has left the country after publishing a blistering open letter.
WARNING: This article contains references and images of an Aboriginal person who has died.
A police officer who fatally shot an Indigenous teenager in Australia’s Northern Territory has left the country after publishing a blistering open letter.
Constable Zachary Rolfe claimed that he would have been celebrated for his actions in any other jurisdiction after shooting 19-year-old Kumanjayi Walker in 2019 while expressing his frustration at being portrayed as a “violent thug” in the wake of the incident.
Rolfe, 30, was found not guilty of Walker’s murder, and was cleared of two other alternative charges.
The shooting sparked widespread outrage and raised difficult questions about police violence and the treatment of Indigenous Australians in the criminal justice system.
The Australian reports Rolfe left the country on Thursday
In a 2500-word open letter to the NT Independent, Rolfe, an Australian Army veteran, denied being a racist or violent cop and said he was a good police officer who loved his job, adding that he had “talked s**t bout nearly every group” in private conversations in reference to a series of damning texts aired during a coronial inquest.
“Kumanjayi Walker was a young man with a violent past who abused many in his community, including young girls and boys,” Rolfe wrote.
“When he tried to kill my partner and I – and make no mistake, he tried to kill us – I did not think about his race, upbringing, or his past trauma, I thought about defending my partner’s life, and that’s what I did.
“In a different state, I would have got a medal for it, and none of you would ever have known my name,” Rolfe said.
He also said the texts had nothing to do with Walker’s death and accused parties involved in the coronial process of releasing them to “hurt the community”.
“They released just a tiny snippet to make me out to be a racist, a few messages out of thousands,” he said.
“The parties knew that the messages had nothing to do with the death of Kumanjayi Walker; they knew the damage they would do once in public – they would hurt the community, the police force and the relationship between them.
“They didn’t care; it seems to me that personal crusades to validate bias are commonplace (even accepted).”
Rolfe, who joined the NT Police in 2016, went on to contrast his treatment against that of police who shot and killed 18-year-old Numan Haider, of Middle Eastern descent, who attacked two police officers with a knife in Victoria in 2014, which Rolfe believed the officers were commended for.
During an investigation into allegations that he had recently displayed an Islamic State flag in a suburban shopping centre and made inflammatory comments about the Australian Federal Police and ASIO on social media, Mr Haider stabbed a Victoria Police officer and an Australian Federal Police member.
Rolfe mentioned another case in Western Australia in 2019, where an officer involved in a fatal shooting had their identity suppressed during proceedings before eventually being found not guilty at a trial and welcomed back into the WA Police force.
Rolfe claimed his legal team reached out to the Australian Federal Police and was granted permission to speak and share evidence with a current use-of-force expert whose qualifications “far exceeded” the NT Police use-of-force expert.
“The far more experienced and qualified expert believed the shooting was justified, professional and worthy of commendation,” he said.
However, the request to use the expert as an independent expert in the trial was denied.
Rolfe said the focus should be on areas that could improve the circumstances of the Northern Territory instead of on him.
“If all you know of me is through the media, then you see me as a violent thug, an ex-soldier with a past.
Kumanjayi Walker was fatally shot by Rolfe.
“You don’t see me transition from protector to medic, immediately trying to save Walker once he is no longer a threat.
“You don’t see me call him my brother when he asks for my help, you don’t see me and the boys do our best to save his life for over an hour. You don’t see us comforting him and reassuring him as he dies, despite our team’s best efforts.”
In March 2022, Rolfe, 30, was found not guilty of Walker’s murder.
He was also cleared of two alternative charges of manslaughter and engaging in a violent act causing death.
This month, Coroner Elisabeth Armitage extended the inquest to include two more sitting weeks from July 31 to August 21.
In January, Rolfe launched a bid to appeal a decision that compels him to answer questions at the inquest.
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