The senior investigator in charge of the coronial investigation into Constable Zach Rolfe’s actions in Yuendumu has told an inquest that the NT Police’s criminal investigation was the most biased investigation against a suspect he had seen in his long and distinguished career with the NT Police force.
Retired former superintendent Scott Pollock provided evidence at the ongoing coronial inquest into the shooting death of Kumanjayi Walker on Tuesday, stating that not only was the criminal investigation biased against Constable Rolfe, but that raising his concerns about it took a toll on his health and led to his early retirement.
Mr Pollock also reiterated concerns he held about whether Constable Rolfe had received the proper training at the police college as a recruit and said he was disappointed the NT Police did not pick up on “red flags” and take action concerning Constable Rolfe’s early-identified aggressive behaviour.
In September, the NT Independent revealed that parts of one of Mr Pollock’s draft coronial reports found that police investigators forced witnesses to provide statements for the criminal investigation with threats of disciplinary action if they didn’t participate, found the crown’s use-of-force witness Sgt Andrew Barram was biased and didn’t understand use-of-force laws, and also found that a supposedly independent report prepared by an American use-of-force “expert” had been “edited” at the request of investigators.
On Tuesday, Mr Pollock told the inquest that Sgt Barram and others had not been given all the evidence before their reports were finalised.
“Some of that information that they hadn’t been given, was critically important, in my view, to the assessment of whether Constable Rolfe’s deadly use of force was appropriate or inappropriate,” he said.
Mr Pollock told the inquest he and his investigative team could not identify who at the police college had trained Constable Rolfe in the use of force and that he suspected Constable Rolfe had not received the training that Mr Barram had claimed in his evidence.
“We couldn’t even identify the person who was scheduled to deliver the training,” he said.
“And the records had never been updated, which is a breach of the registered training organisation procedures. At the end of the day, we could not even identify anyone who delivered the training. And the reason we were desperate to do that was to see or seek confirmation that this is what they were taught.”
Mr Pollock said he did not get the opportunity to interview Mr Barram to find out why he was claiming to have knowledge of the training.
He had also raised concerns that Constable Rolfe’s partner Adam Eberl may have been cut as well by Mr Walker in the scuffle that ensued during the failed arrest that led to Mr Walker being shot three times by Constable Rolfe. Mr Walker had stabbed Rolfe in the shoulder with a pair of surgical scissors.
Mr Pollock said he felt a duty to report his concerns about the flawed investigation because he was worried if he didn’t, Constable Rolfe may have been convicted of murder with the potential for a retrial and a miscarriage of justice.
“I was going to document my concerns, so if it came out at a later time that we’d attempted to hide that information, well here’s my evidence that I didn’t walk past what I saw,” he said.
Asked about the response from then-assistant commissioner Nick Anticich when Mr Pollock had raised his concerns, he said Mr Anticich had “become agitated during the meeting – I think I was bringing the problem and not the solution”.
Mr Pollock was later questioned by the lawyer representing the NT Police Association about how he came to retire from the NT Police early.
Mr Pollock said he had been moved from the shooting death of Kumanjayi Walker coronial investigation after a year into an “incident controlled position for COVID-19 management” around the end of 2020, with the anticipation he would retire 12 months later.
In March of 2021, Mr Pollock said he met with Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker and his two deputy commissioners, where he indicated he would like to stay in the role until he retired in nine months.
“I was given an assurance by the Commissioner that would happen,” he said.
“And two weeks later, I think around mid-March, he rang me and said that he was going to transfer me to the Territory duties superintendent position.”
“And what did you do as a result of that?” asked Sally Ozolins.
“Retired,” Mr Pollock responded.
He added that he had felt “completely unsupported by the organisation” after decades as a distinguished and respected investigator and that his “health was declining”.
Asked if anyone in NT Police had contacted him or offered support after his early retirement, Mr Pollock replied: “None, they turned their back on me” and that it still affected him to this day.
Former assistant commissioner Nick Anticich became ‘abusive, intimidatory, and threatening’ when biased investigation raised
Earlier, Coroner Elisabeth Armitage and Counsel Assisting Peggy Dwyer both objected to former deputy police commissioner Nick Anticich being questioned by Constable Rolfe’s lawyers about the rush to charge Rolfe with murder within four days of the incident.
Mr Anticich, who retired suddenly before the criminal trial and who had oversight of the entire criminal investigation, grew annoyed with questions about the use of Sgt Andrew Barram as the criminal investigation’s use of force expert.
Mr Merenda, a lawyer for Constable Rolfe, raised the issue of Mr Pollock’s stated concerns about Sgt Barram’s evidence being “tainted”.
“I never heard the word ‘tainted evidence’,” Mr Anticich replied, adding that he was aware of concerns raised about Sgt Barram’s evidence.
“I don’t know why … we’re making an issue of this aspect, to be frank.”
Ms Dwyer objected to questions around why the criminal investigation team did not seek a proper use of force expert who wasn’t connected to the NT Police and one who would have understood the law around use of force better, suggesting that Mr Merenda was wasting the inquest’s time.
“Get to the point,” Ms Armitage said.
Mr Merenda asked Mr Anticich about a phone call he had made to Mr Pollock while he was leading the coronial investigation that was described as “abusive, intimidatory and threatening”, due to Mr Pollock’s ongoing concerns about Mr Barram not being provided all of the facts and his lack of knowledge about proper police training.
“You repeated on several occasions, ‘Do you know how fucking embarrassing this is?’ and importantly he says that you demanded to know what information he was passing on to the Coroner,” Mr Merenda said to Mr Anticich.
“I don’t recall that,” Mr Anticich replied.
Mr Merenda also raised minutes from a meeting between Mr Anticich, Mr Pollock and then-lead coronial investigator Supt David Proctor in which Mr Anticich said he had accepted “the risk” to the NT Police force of using Sgt Barram for the investigation before going to trial.
Mr Anticich later admitted that he had suspended Mr Pollock’s – and then lead investigator Supt David Procter’s – coronial investigation in favour of keeping the criminal investigation going.
Mr Anticich said that was necessary because, after more than a year, he determined it was “totally inappropriate” to have both investigations running concurrently.
He added that he had “no problem” with the coronial investigation, only that it “should not be done while a criminal investigation is extant”. He was not asked and did not explain why it took a year to determine that.
Drafts of Mr Pollock’s reports were later handed over to Rolfe’s defence team, but only after their existence was leaked, following Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker’s attempt to suppress them.
Another senior officer with connections to Walker’s family had conflict of interest
Assistant Commissioner Martin Dole, told the inquest earlier on Tuesday that while he oversaw the murder investigation into Constable Rolfe, he rejected allegations of political interference and bias in the investigation based on his close relationship with Mr Walker’s relatives.
Mr Dole confirmed to the inquest that he had been spent part of his childhood in Yuendumu and had a “close kinship relationship” with members of Mr Walker’s family.
He said despite being on the joint management committee that made “critical decisions” concerning the criminal investigation, he made “no investigative decisions” and that his relationship with Mr Walker’s family did not affect any decisions he made.
Assistant Commissioner Dole also claimed that Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker had “absolutely” no involvement in the investigation, despite detective notes previously reported that suggested he had.
The inquest resumes on Friday.
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