- NT police officer who shot an Indigenous man has pleaded not responsible to homicide
- Constable Zach Rolfe, 30, allegedly shot useless Kumanjayi Walker, 19
- Crown Prosecutor advised jury it was second and third shot that represent homicide
- Mr Rolfe's lawyer mentioned the constable had been defending himself and his accomplice
- The trial continues earlier than the NT Supreme Court docket
- WARNING: GRAPHIC FOOTAGE
A jury trial has been proven bodycam footage depicting the second a policeman allegedly shot an Aboriginal teen useless.
Kumanjayi Walker, 19, died in Yuendumu, 300km northwest of Alice Springs on November 9, 2019.
Video performed to the Northern Territory Supreme Court docket this week confirmed Constable Zach Rolfe, 30, and his accomplice Adam Eberl questioning {the teenager} about his id earlier than Walker appeared to lunge at them each with a pair of scissors.
Three gunshots can then be heard 2.6 seconds aside as Rolfe calls out repeatedly 'he is stabbing me', based on the bodycam video confirmed to the jury.
The constable, who fired the deadly pictures, confronted the courtroom this week and alongside a jury watched because the distressing bodycam footage was performed a number of instances over.
Rolfe has pleaded not responsible to 1 cost of homicide and two lesser costs of manslaughter and interesting in a violent act inflicting demise.
On November 9, Rolfe and his accomplice had been tasked with apprehending the fugitive after being despatched from Alice Springs, the courtroom has heard.
Bodycam footage proven to the jury options the 2 males asking Walker his id.
{The teenager} seems calm and offers the officers a special identify, whereas the officers reply by asking him to place his arms behind his again.
Walker pauses barely earlier than all of a sudden leaping at them with the pair of scissors, showing to stab Rolfe within the left shoulder and his accomplice within the armpit.
One shot might be heard within the chaos after which one other two comply with 2.6 seconds later as Walker and the opposite officer wrestle on the bottom.
second and third shot that constituted homicide.
'Two-point-six seconds after he fired the primary shot, the accused stood over Kumajayi Walker and fired into his left torso... when the accused fired the second and third shot, he supposed to kill Kumanjayi Walker,' Mr Strickland mentioned.
The constable's lawyer David Edwardson mentioned his consumer was finishing up his function as a policeman in good religion and was defending himself and his accomplice.
'Constable Rolfe didn't have the luxurious of contemplating tactical choices body by body. He had been stabbed,' Mr Edwardson advised the jury.
'His accomplice was locked in fight with an armed assailant, he couldn't press the pause button. He was taught, educated and drilled - an edged weapon equals a gun.'
The officer-in-charge of the Yuendumu police station in November 2019 advised the courtroom she drew up a plan to soundly arrest Walker.
Sergeant Julie Frost mentioned her station suffered a 'large useful resource downside' the evening {the teenager} was killed, prompting her to name within the Alice Springs-based Instant Response Workforce which Rolfe was a part of.
Sergeant Frost mentioned she requested the IRT to patrol break-in hotspots locally in addition to do some high-visibility policing.
She deliberate to arrest {the teenager} herself at 5.30am the next day on November 10, with an officer who knew Walker personally.
'An early morning arrest like that may be a far safer time to arrest folks,' she advised the courtroom. 'We all know that they are going to be sleeping, and it offers the aspect of shock.'
Nonetheless, when requested what to do in the event that they encountered the fugitive throughout their patrol Frost advised the IRT officers: 'By all means, lock him up.'
The trial continues.
