SYDNEY – An Australian police officer was cleared of murder today over the fatal shooting of an indigenous teenager, in a verdict immediately criticised by relatives and elders frustrated by the high number of Aboriginal deaths in custody.
Despite several public inquiries and numerous trials, no Australian police officer has ever been convicted of murder over the death of an indigenous person in custody.
More than 500 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have died in custody since 1991, when detailed records began, including at least 11 in the last seven months.
A jury in Darwin found constable Zachary Rolfe not guilty of murder over the killing of 19-year-old Kumanjayi Walker, deciding that all three shots fired by the police officer in a remote town on November 9, 2019 were justified.
Rolfe was also found not guilty of lesser charges of manslaughter and a violent act causing death.
Family and elders from the indigenous community cried and wailed outside the Darwin court following the unanimous verdict.
“We are deeply saddened by the result and cannot put our grief into words,” Walker’s cousin Samara Fernandez-Brown told reporters.
“We’re deeply disappointed, and though we’ve been given a trial, I can’t with honesty say that it’s been fair,” she said, vowing that the family would not give up their struggle.
In a brief statement outside court, Rolfe said he welcomed the decision.
“Obviously, I think it was the right decision to make, but a lot of people are hurting today – Kumanjayi’s family and his community – and it didn’t need to get to this point, so I’m going to leave this space for them,” he said. – AFP, March 11, 2022
