Costs to charge and prosecute Zach Rolfe over Walker shooting death revealed

Costs to investigate and prosecute Zach Rolfe over Walker shooting death revealed

by | Aug 8, 2022 | Alice, Cops, News | 0 comments

Taxpayers were charged roughly $4 million for the investigation into the shooting death of Kumanjayi Walker, the failed prosecution of Constable Zach Rolfe, as well as the costs so far for the upcoming coronial inquest, official figures show, but it is unclear if that includes the police officer’s defence costs which will also have to be paid by the government.

The figure given by Police Minister Kate Worden’s office was put at $4,039,218.92, which included the costs up to March 31 for the shooting investigation, the committal hearing, the trial, and for the coronial inquest, which will not be held until September.

A Supreme Court jury found Constable Rolfe not guilty of the murder of Mr Walker in his shooting death in Yuendumu in November 2019, during a failed arrest attempt.

The NT Independent understands that Constable Rolfe’s defence costs were more than $1.5 million and will also have to be paid by the government, but it is unclear if that figure is included in the $4 million disclosure.

It is also unclear if that money has already been paid by the NT Police Association of if it needs to be paid to the union by NT Police.

NTPA president Paul McCue would not comment on the situation with the Rolfe defence costs.

“Matters relating to funding for members of the NTPA are confidential in nature, including content of funding approvals. We will not discuss any particular matter in detail,” he said.

Ms Worden did not respond to a request for a break-down of the costs, nor would she respond to other questions including if the defence’s legal costs were included in the figure to March 31, and what the anticipated total cost, including the full coronial inquest, would be.

Her office released the costs in response to questions taken on notice during June’s Budget Estimates hearings.

Ms Worden was also asked by the NT Independent if the government had estimated potential damages from any civil cases that may still be taken against the government by Constable Rolfe or the family of Mr Walker.

At a press conference in March, 13 days after the Rolfe verdict and the first time he took questions from the media following the acquittal, Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker referenced Palm Island when talking about the limitations of what he could say.

In 2011 Queensland Police paid an undisclosed amount in compensation to the family of Mulrunji Doomadgee, who died in police custody on the Queensland island in 2004.

In 2018, the Queensland Government also paid out $30 million to settle a class action over riots that followed his death.

The ABC reported that locals accused arresting officer Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley of murder, although he was acquitted of manslaughter in 2007.

And the day after Mr Doomadgee’s autopsy results were made public, about a week after his death, angry residents went on a riot through the town.

In 2016, the Federal Court found the police response to the riot breached the Racial Discrimination Act and ordered compensation for one family, which led to the class action.

Investigations still ongoing into Rolfe matter, police response to Walker death to come under spotlight

In the weeks following the Rolfe verdict, the Independent Commissioner Against Corruption Michael Riches announced he would investigate allegations of political interference in the charging of Constable Rolfe.

That announcement came after a series of NT Independent reports about concerns investigators had with the speed at which charges were laid.

In an opinion piece for the NT Independent in early June, former NT Police Immediate Response Team leader and trainer Carey Joy, said that through disclosures in testimony from senior officers during the murder trial, it appeared the entire deployment of the IRT members to Yuendumu was approved with nothing more than an email requesting extra members be sent to assist in arresting Mr Walker.

“[With] the flawed police procedures that led to Constable Zach Rolfe being in that house in Yuendumu, one thing is certain: the NT Police cover-up is an internal arse-covering exercise of epic proportions,” he wrote.

“The risks clearly show that Constables Rolfe and Eberl, and the rest of the IRT members … were deployed to Yuendumu to locate and arrest Walker in circumstances that are 100 per cent against all of our mandatory deployment rules and requirements.

“I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that had the planned response been completed with the correct risk assessment and subsequent planning, Territory Response Group would have been deployed, Walker would still most likely be alive and Rolfe’s professional life would not be in ruins.

“The NTPOL executive management is and has worked extremely hard to keep their fundamental errors hidden from the public and from the Walker family, who so far are only holding Constable Rolfe responsible, which is troubling and unfair.

“And remember, to this day nobody has been held accountable for what happened that evening in Yuendumu.”

A coronial inquiry into Mr Walker’s death will be held next month. The inquest’s comprehensive “issues list” was released in late May by Coroner Elisabeth Armitage, with 54 questions the inquest will attempt to answer, including if police are adequately trained, what the actual plan was for IRT officers to arrest Mr Walker, and whether police use of force tactics need to be amended.

The unhappiness among rank-and-file officers about Constable Rolfe being charged with murder is a large reason why a vote of no confidence in Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker was sent to all officers last week by the NT Police Association.

Constable Rolfe quietly returned to work last month.

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