NT police officer's 'disgusting' and 'repugnant' texts in months before shooting revealed

WARNING: This article contains language some readers may find distressing. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised this story contains the name of a person who has died.

A series of text messages sent by a Northern Territory police officer have been exposed during the coronial inquest into the death of Kumanjayi Walker.

The messages were downloaded from Constable Zachary Rolfe's phone following his arrest in November 2019.

Rolfe was charged with murder after he shot and killed 19-year-old Walpiri teenager Kumanjayi Walker in the remote community of Yuendumu, almost 300 kilometres north-west of Alice Springs.

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Earlier this year, a jury found him not guilty of the charges and he has since returned to active duty.

The texts contain exchanges between Rolfe and several members of the NT Police Force, including high ranking officers who were not named in court, in the months leading up to the shooting.

Yesterday Sergeant Anne Jolley, the current officer in charge at Yuendumu police station, appeared as a witness in the inquest, describing the messages as "disgusting" and "unacceptable".

In one text, dated February 28, 2019, Rolfe described Alice Springs as being "like the wild west" with "f--- all rules".

In a second exchange, an unnamed officer texted Rolfe saying "heard you had a rough arvo yessie (yesterday). Grubby f----".

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Rolfe referred to Indigenous people as c---- in his reponse and was also quoted as referring to Indigenous people as "neanderthals who drink too much alcohol" and "n-----".

Counsel assisting the coroner Dr Peggy Dwyer asked Jolley: "Do you agree with me, sergeant, that it is shocking to hear a serving member of the police force, in 2019, use that blatantly racist, disgusting term to refer to an Aboriginal person?"

Jolley replied: "Yes."

Jolley also told the court she was "shocked" and "surprised" by the messages and that they did not reflect the mentality of the force as a whole.

Family members of Walker have called for disciplinary action to be taken against the officers involved.

"It is absolutely horrific (though not surprising) to hear some of the text messages that were downloaded from Zachary Rolfe's phone," a statement from the Walker family representative, Samara Fernandez-Brown, said.

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"It is woeful that amongst the authors of some of those text messages are high ranking officers like a sergeant."

Elizabeth Katakarinja, a member of the Parrumpurru Committee and Warlpiri elder from Yuendumu, also issued a statement.

"It's good that these text messages have been shown to the public for the first time," she said.

"It really hurts all the family members, and community after what has been done to our people and to find out what some people are calling us."

The text messages have been the subject of significant debate since the beginning of the inquest.

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Last week, Rolfe's lawyers raised objections to them being introduced as evidence.

Today, legal representative for Rolfe David Edwardson and representatives for the NT Police Association objected to the texts being used in cross examination.

The legal representative for the NT Police Force, Ian Freckelton, told the court the messages risked reflecting poorly on the force as a whole.

"What is being traversed with this witness is sensational," he said.

"It is important, your honour, that a misimpression not be propagated that this modest number of offensive utterances by text messages be imputed to the whole police force.

"To do so would run the risk of diminishing the respect in which the force is generally held and the trust that is reposed in them and that — if that occurred it would be a most unfortunate outcome of this inquest."

Coroner Elisabeth Armitage, overruled the objections.

"In my view it is appropriate to receive evidence from this experienced police officer and in my view her knowledge as to whether or not this is the kind of communications that she is aware of or not and what she might do if she became aware of these sorts of communications … is relevant to this inquest," she said.

The inquest is set to hear from more than 80 witnesses over the course of the next three months.