Final submissions being heard in inquest into Kumanjayi Walker’s death

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A warning, this story contains images of an Indigenous man who has died. The final arguments are underway in a long running inquest into the fatal police shooting of Aboriginal man Kumanjayi Walker.

Transcript

00:00A 19-year-old Walpurgislaritja man, Kumanjai Walker, was fatally shot by then Northern

00:07Territory Police Constable Zachary Rolfe in November of 2019 in a remote community called

00:13Yundamu around four hours from Alice Springs.

00:17He was shot during an attempted arrest.

00:20Constable Rolfe was then charged with his murder.

00:23He was acquitted after a Supreme Court trial in early 2022, and this coronial inquest began

00:30in September of that year.

00:32It was initially scheduled to run for three months, but it's been plagued by delays.

00:38There have been several legal challenges to various aspects of this inquiry.

00:43The coroner's scope is also quite broad.

00:46She's been examining issues from health, education and housing in remote communities, as well

00:53as investigating allegations of racism within the Northern Territory Police Force.

00:59This inquest has been really broad-ranging and has affected a huge number of people in

01:06the Northern Territory who are anxiously waiting for the hearings to finish and for the coroner's

01:13findings and recommendations to be handed down.

01:16Over the next two days here in Alice Springs, the Northern Territory coroner Elizabeth Armitage

01:21will hear what are called final submissions.

01:24These are the final arguments from each of the parties and organisations involved in

01:29the inquest, including representatives of Kumunjai Walker's family and his community,

01:34as well as those representing former Constable Zachary Rolfe and the Northern Territory Police Force.

01:41The coroner will hear these final submissions, these final arguments over the next two days

01:46before she adjourns to write her findings and recommendations.

01:50We don't yet know when those findings and recommendations will be handed down, but there

01:56are certainly a large number of people here in the Northern Territory and across the country

02:01who are waiting to see what the coroner will find and what recommendations she will make

02:07after this long-running inquiry.

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