The trial focused on Rolfe’s state of mind at the time of the shooting. The inquest will probe a more comprehensive set of factors before and after Walker’s death,including how the incident has affected the Yuendumu community.
It will hear testimonies from more than 80 people. Many gave evidence at the trial,while health clinic staff,government officials and a broader group of police decision makers will be called.
Walpiri elder Robin Japanangka Granites in Alice Springs.Credit:Zach Hope
Rolfe,who testified in his defence at the trial,is scheduled to appear this month. The draft witness list also includes his ex-fiancee,Claudia Campagnaro,whose scathing assessment of Rolfe’s character and motivations,which she provided in an interview to detectives investigating Walker’s death,could not be introduced in the trial under the laws of evidence.
Rolfe has denied her accusations.
Warlpiri elders told Monday’s opening day how their people felt denied justice under the Kardiya[white person] system and implored the Northern Territory and Australian authorities to make this inquest count.
“No one deserves to die this way and Australia cannot allow this to happen again,” Robin Japanangka Granites said.
“We won’t see Kumanjayi again in this lifetime,but what has this policeman lost?”
Walker’s cousin,Samara Fernandez-Brown,asked those taking part in the inquest to “give us the truth – not a sample of the truth or what you want us to hear”.
“Work with us,work for us,to ensure no other family experiences what we have,” she said.
Like he did outside the courthouse following Rolfe’s not-guilty verdict,elder Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves spoke of traditional law,and his community’s yearning for closure,relaying a story about the death of his younger sister after “a man had done something very,very bad”.
Senior Warlpiri man Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves delivered a message on behalf of the family of Kumanjayi Walker after police officer Zachary Rolfe was acquitted of his death in March.Credit:Fair-Dealing
“He had to get a spear across the legs,” Hargraves said of the offender. “Not once,not two times - 10. When the blood was seen,the family,the community,that was the sign of peace ... that was justice.”
He called for the abolition of guns in remote communities,and said police willing to engage with,and learn about,Aboriginal cultures were welcome.
“We want the police,” he said. “We love the police ... because they uphold the law. We want them there. And we want to be able to work together.”
The coroner had planned for the inquest to start at Yuendumu,but the two-day sitting was cancelled last month amid rising tensions.
Counsel assisting the coroner,Peggy Dwyer,said the community was in a state of high conflict and community members did not feel comfortable having outsiders,including journalists,spending time there.
- With AAP