In steamy Darwin a historical murder trial is now underway. Police officer Zachary Rolfe stands accused of murdering Warlpiri teen Kumanjayi Walker in the remote community of Yuendumu in 2019. It will be the first time a police officer has been tried for murder for a First Nations death in custody case in the NT since the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.
After years of delays due to the pandemic and an urgent High Court appeal, the jury was finally empanelled on Monday, February 7 2022. The silks for the prosecution and defence each outlined what they say happened on that Saturday evening in 2019 when Rolfe shot the young man three times after attempting to arrest him.
Reporter and lawyer Hannah Ryan was on the scene at the NT Supreme Court in Darwin, and has the key points from the first day of the trial.
Zachary Rolfe trial: day one
Click on the embedded tweet below to listen to a recording of Hannah Ryan recapping day one of the Zachary Rolfe trial on Twitter Spaces (audio starts at about 55 seconds).
We’ll be on the scene at the NT Supreme Court in Darwin again tomorrow to bring you coverage of day two of the trial. Listen live from around 3.30pm AEST via Crikey’s Twitter account — here’s the link to the space where we’ll be going live — or catch up on our website later tomorrow.
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