Thread by @dhadjowa

On Thursday 27 October, the inquest into the death of Kumanjayi Walker sat on Arrernte Country with Sergeant Meacham King's evidence continued. Below, we share some key excerpts.

You can find the full transcript here: justice.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/…

#Justice4Walker

Sgt King is cross-examined by Mr Edwardson.

E: [Y]ou would have required a community police officer to be in your presence or to accompany you ideally when you went in the community that night?

MK: If we were out there looking to arrest someone, yes...

#Justice4Walker

Regarding the chain of command for the plans made on the day.

E: [U]ltimately the chain of command goes from then to Sergeant Frost who in turn goes up in this case to Superintendent Nobbs who in turn goes up to Assistant Commissioner Wurst?

MK: Yeah, I’d agree with that.

King was played a video of body worn camera footage from the incident.

E: [I] wanted to ask you about is the use of the expression “Get on the fucking ground."... police officers do use robust languages in cases where there is a sense of urgency...?

MK: That’s correct.

E: [Y]ou say, "Well, look, he's not as experienced as us" you don't regard it as inappropriate but it may not have added anything to it. Is that what you're saying?

MK: Yes... if I was to debrief that I would've said, "Look... you probably could've said, 'Get on the ground now'

E: [T]hey have them drawn [police guns drawn as entering the house] because of the information that had been conveyed to them there was a person barricaded in the bathroom, there was another man who was - with a knife and trying to kill him?

MK: That's correct.

E: That's all the information they have?

MK: Yes.

E: Would you accept in those circumstances, police to go through the front door as they did, with their weapons drawn in that heat of the moment?

MK: Yes

#Justice4Walker

E: Can I suggest to you Sergeant, and I am asking you - or drawing on your considerable expertise, that there was nothing that any police officer did as we saw it on that video that appeared to be excessive force in the circumstances?

MK: I don't believe so, no.

#Justice4Walker

Dr Freckleton representing NT police.

F: What do you say in the circumstances about the appropriateness or otherwise of a plan to arrest Kumanjayi Walker...by an early morning entry into a house?

MK: Well, an early morning apprehension, as we
know, are more effective.

[On early morning arrests]

MK: It’s been proven that it works better & it’s probably more safer to officers & the people we’re arresting.

F: Safer by reason of the fact that the person is likely to be less alert and less in a position to resist?

MK: And also, they’d be asleep

F: [T]hey attended the residence at 577 and said we’re here to grab Kumanjayi...
MK: That's not intelligence gathering.

F: Is it in any way in conformity with a 5 o'clock apprehension the next day?
MK: No, because they're actually searching and looking to apprehend Kumanjayi...

MK: [T]hey probably should have contacted back to Sergeant Frost and said look, I think we’re in a better position to apprehend him now; can you come out & assist us and give us more numbers to put an effective cordon in; give us the capability to negotiate with him...

Coroner: [T]here would be w/i that [TRG] group someone who had that [leadership] capacity?

MK: There’d be that capacity but also we would nominate the team leader before they left the office. The OIC or sergeant would have said this is your responsibility, so it would be clear -

Mr Coleridge: You’ve also given a little bit of evidence about how some younger or more junior police officers can be – can experience sensory overload or be a bit more hyped up than more senior officers?

MK: Yeah, definitely.

MK: [W]e can get the most highly qualified, skilled General Duty officer & put them in an environment like an edged weapon, they’d never been in a position where someone’s attacked them with a knife before. Even with the training & even they could freeze & not respond accordingly

Senior Sergeant Terry Zhang was called as a witness.

Mullins: Did you have any experience in communities before November of 2019?

Z: Very limited. I had been to Yuendumu twice but I've never permanently worked in a remote community.

#Justice4Walker

Zhang said he was Forward Commander when we arrived in Yuendumu, after the shooting.

Z: Sergeant Frost... would assist me as required & also understanding the fact that they had just been through a traumatic event... to allow her to finish duty, have some rest...

M: [D]id you discover that the reason why the ambulance went with the convoy from the station to the airport & returned was effectively a ruse?...

Z: ...we never discussed the reason why the ambulance went there. But that was an assumption made by me.

#Justice4Walker

M: [T]he assumption that what was done, was an attempt to represent to the community, that Kumanjayi was going to be conveyed – Kumanjayi Walker was going to be conveyed to the airport and taken away, when that wasn’t in fact the case?

Z: Correct, that was my understanding.

M: And as an officer yourself, did you feel comfortable about that happening?

Z: On reflection, I don’t feel comfortable. And that I don’t think that was the most appropriate thing to do. However, at the time I didn’t turn my mind to that.

#Justice4Walker

Z: [W]e operated under assumption that the community believed Kumanjayi had been taken to Alice Springs. And we wanted to maintain that, until... the arrival of TRG, in the most unfortunate event, if there’s also a community riot, which we were not equipped to deal with...

Z was questioned by Mullins about why Mr Robertson wasn’t told on the phone, about the passing of Kumanjayi Walker.

Z: [T]here was a level of deception, I accept that. And I feel sorry for that. At the time it was a necessary lie.

#Justice4Walker

[Evidence on not telling Mr Robertson that Kumanjayi had passed away.]

M: You understood that the message that you were giving to Eddy, was to the whole community?

Z: Correct... That information with other members of the community.

#Justice4Walker

M: "I just said ‘We’re providing treatment to that effect.’ And he said ‘Oh thank you’, then he hung up.” Is that the same conversation?

Z: Yes.

M: Now that statement that you made, that he was receiving treatment, was obviously untrue?

Z: Correct.

#Justice4Walker

M: And of course, that wasn’t the case. He had passed several hours before?

Sgt Z: Yes.

M: Now can I say to you that you were very uncomfortable, telling that untruth, weren’t you?

Sgt Z: I wasn’t very comfortable. It was a lie.

#Justice4Walker

M: [Y]ou say “We’re providing treatment.” You needed to be very careful about how you framed that second untruth, because you didn’t want to compromise the first untruth [the impression that KW had gone to Alice Springs]?

Z: Yes.

#Justice4Walker

Mullins repeated Sgt King's evidence of the conversation with Mr Robertson at 4.50am:

“Zhang & I... informed him that Walker was deceased... we explained that the police officer involved had left... that the reason he discharged his firearm was that he was in fear of his life.”

M: Now, we’ve all seen the body-worn video... there’s also reference there to – words to the effect that Constable Rolfe feared for his life.
Z: Yes

M: Did you feel comfortable that that was being said to Eddy and Lottie Robertson?
Z: No

#Justice4Walker

M: Do you understand her [Samara Fernandez-Brown's] expression that it was disrespectful to the family that they were deceived and not told the truth?

Z: I fully understand that and as I said, I’m sorry. I apologise for that, for the deception.

#Justice4Walker

Espie: What about racist or derogatory comments towards Aboriginal people, is that something you’ve observed...[in NT Police force]?

Z: I have observed what I would describe as low level... And also me or other supervisors would have no problem addressing that, pull that up...

Hearn for the families connected with Kumanjayi Walker.

H: Do you agree that the agreement or plan to tell Eddy these untruths was primarily informed by a desire to maintain community order?

Z: Correct...

#Justice4Walker

H: And it was based on an assumption about how the community and the family might respond if they received the true information, is that right?

Z: Correct. We’re just – we had to be prepared for all possible scenarios and retaliation and you know, riot, it was one possibility.

H: [T]he delivery of the news of Kumanjayi’s passing did not in fact prompt any violent outbursts or volatile behaviour. Do you agree..?

Z: I fully agree. And I’m very grateful for their cooperation and understanding. I was really surprised how they behaved...

#Justice4Walker

H: Has it caused you to reflect upon making assumptions about how groups of people might behave in response to certain events?

Z: 100 percent. And in hindsight, if we had the resource, more consultation would have better informed us.

#Justice4Walker

H: [S]o you understood... the information, to the effect that Kumanjayi was still alive and receiving medical treatment, was likely to, after that phone call, be widely dispersed?

Z: Very likely... we wanted to maintain that false impression the community had.

#Justice4Walker

H: Was there any consideration given to just how broadly and significantly this false information might affect family and communities?

Z: [T]he consideration was maintaining police service in the community, and to wait – by some, what has been proven to be incorrect assumptions

[Eddy was asked to the station at 4am and told by Z that Kumanjayi had passed]

H: [D]id you correct the earlier falsity that had been represented to Eddy that Kumanjayi had been alive at 12:07 am?

Z: Yes...The conversation we had would have made it very clear, we lied to him...

H: [E]ddy had been woken up at 4 am, delivered this news about the passing of Kumanjayi... told that he had been lied to... asked to identify the body in a way without regard to culture... asked by police also to... assist in the delivery of the news to that family..?

Z: Yes...

H: I suggest to you that he had been, again, prevailed upon to attend the Brown family to assist the police and that he had reluctantly agreed to do so?

Z: [Ye]s, he showed me reluctance and we insisted, pressured him into helping us.

#Justice4Walker

H: Did you think that this was perhaps an inappropriate use of a grieving family member, to prevail upon to assist the police in this way?

Z: If Mr Robertson felt that way, I accept that, yes.

#Justice4Walker

Dr Freckleton: On behalf of the Northern Territory Police, do you have anything to say to the family members about that?

Sgt Z: I apologise for the offensive caused sincerely. It’s – there were a number of oversights and failings on my part, and I accept those.

#Justice4Walker

Mr Coleridge questioned Z on language used in the NT police force.

C: Have you ever heard the word niggers?
Z: Yes.
C: Used by a police officer?
Z: It is a derogatory term but more often police officers call each other that but not in a public, no.

#Justice4Walker

Officer Mitchell Hanson was called as a witness.

D: [D]o you have friends who are Aboriginal people?

MH: Yeah, I do. A couple of the guys off my squad were Indigenous.... they’ve got a skin name for me and some of the other guys from my squad.

D: What was it like growing up in Groote Eylandt?

MH: It was a very interesting place... it was probably a lot more diverse than you would think, being you know, such a remote community... I had Indigenous kids in the school that I went with & I, you know, hung out with.

D: Do you recall being given any particular instruction as to how you should communicate with Aboriginal people sensitively?

MH: Not that I recall.

D: During those three years, Constable Rolfe was here in Alice Springs as well. Is that right?

MH: Yes, that's correct.

D: And you were on the same patrol group as Constable Rolfe for part of that time?

MH: Yes, I was.

Hanson gave evidence that he watched the body worn footage of the axe incident with Rolfe on 7 November.

D: You're watching this... You're critical of the two officers. You were basically suggesting... that they should have at least pulled their firearm?
MH: [T]hat is correct.

MH: I was very junior in experience... when we were at the college, that is the training we received, that edged weapon equals gun... I was back then and probably being a bit egotistical as well, being a young guy, I thought they hadn't abided by their training...

D: “[Y]ou imagine if that other cop got killed, and he stood there and watched it with his fucking hands up. What the fuck have we become.” Was that consistent with a discussion that you and Zach were having, when you were standing around watching it?
MH: It may well have been...

D: And did you receive that text message from Sergeant McCormack as well?
MH: I don’t believe so.

D: Do you recall Constable Rolfe making a phone call to him after watching the body worn video?
MH: No I don’t, sorry.

On text messages btw Kirkby & Rolfe

D: Constable Rolfe replies, “...I’m always ready to make my camera face the other way and be a dramatic cunt for the film.” And Sergeant Kirkby wrote, “And the Oscar goes to”, and Constable Rolfe wrote “Ha ha.”

D: Have you ever been on a job with Constable Rolfe where he’s turned the footage on himself and acted out?

MH: No, not at all, no.

#Justice4Walker

D: [A]nother job in 2019, it involved Antonio Woods... neither Constable Rolfe, nor Sergeant Kirkby, had activated their body-worn video cameras. You had activated your camera and then de-activated it early, after eight seconds. Do you recall that?

MH: I do recall the job

D: Why did you activate and then de-activate your camera?
MH: I don’t remember activating it. I don’t remember de-activating it.
...
Do – you received some instruction in relation to that... because there was a complaint?
MH: Yeah... where I’d been less diligent with my camera.

D: Constable Rolfe, you're sending him a text... “Might head to Monty’s or somewhere gay tomorrow for a few beers if you're keen to be fags with moi”. And you say, “I have youth tomorrow at 5.30 but if you're out afterwards I’ll be a fag with you mate”?

MH: Yeah.
#Justice4Walker

D: Are you referring to each other using what is, I’m going to suggest to you, a homophobic term. Do you agree with that?
MH: Yeah, I do agree.
...
D: Well tell us, Constable, are you homophobic?
MH: No, not at all.

#Justice4Walker

[Re a text to Rolfe]
D: “Yeah, been a detective. The cops out here have fucked this town. They’ve been letting the niggers drink wherever they want ha ha”. Where were you when you sent that message?
MH: I was working – I was on one of those member respite trips to Borroloola...

D: You refer to “blacks are drunk full time.” This is before you get out to Wadeye?

MH: Correct... I’m so apologetic that the words that I’ve used describing those guys, especially before I knew them now, before I knew them, you know, it just embarrasses me...
#Justice4Walker

D: You accept that it’s racist language?
MH: Yeah, I do.
D: Would you ever use that language in front of Aboriginal people?
MH: ...I wouldn't use that language in front of them. I wouldn't use that language moving forwards. You know, I've learned a lot.

#Justice4Walker

D: You had nothing to do with the job out at Yuendumu on 9 November, correct?
MH: Correct.
...
D: Why did you phone Zach at that time?
MH: I just had a feeling. I just had – I just knew in my gut that they’d sent the team out.

#Justice4Walker

D: And so, it was something that he [Rolfe] felt strongly about, the fact that there had been this axe incident?

MH: ...I can’t remember what shifts I’d worked with him in the lead up... but I think we both – like I went back and viewed that body-worn footage time after time.

D: You gave Zach a call. You wanted to see if – you say in your first statement, “I wanted to see if he was all right and it must have been when he was just getting to hospital or something because he was – he couldn’t really talk.” And then you called James Kirstenfeldt?
MH: Yes

MH: I called Zach. Zach was like stressed, panicked, obviously couldn’t talk to me. So, then I called Jimmy... I said – I think I said to him on the phone, you know, I heard there was a shooting... And he basically reassured me, he said, “Mate, it’s all good.”

#Justice4Walker

[On the gathering at Rolfe's house after the shooting]

D: You’re his close mate. You still are - - -?
MH: Yeah.
D: His close mate. It’s natural that you would want to go and comfort him, can I suggest to you?
MH: Sure, exactly.

#Justice4Walker

D: [A]nybody involved in a death in custody, is separated until they give a version of events. And you would appreciate the importance of that, wouldn’t you?

MH: Yeah I do... I guess, I didn’t make the connection of death in custody, police shooting. I don’t know why...

A text MH sends to Rolfe on 10 Nov 2019:

“Assistant Cmsnr Michael White’s press conference, fucking woeful...fucking clown. He should say the body-worn video will show the true story & exonerate the police from any other option. As hard as it is to read the fuckhead’s comments.”

MH [on the above text message]: I’ve compromised Zach’s integrity here, by sending that message to him. I haven’t shown leadership amongst people of my rank, let alone, the people below me.

D: Do we see a bit of ego in that do you think?
MH: Oh absolutely, yeah...

D: So you then send that to Constable Rolfe and say, "Ian Nankivell sent me this to send to you. He was involved in shooting someone in VicPol so he said to send this through". And Constable Rolfe writes back, "Awesome awesome awesome, thank you for that brother."...
MH: Yes.

D: Is there something that you want to say to [Kumanjayi Walker's family]?

MH: I let myself get to a place where this sort of thing wasn't offensive to me... I'm wholeheartedly sorry for the things that I've said and the way I've behaved.

#Justice4Walker

Mullins for the Brown family.

M: You knew you had sent the Nankivell text on 10 November 2019 and so when you gave your statement on 17 January 2020 you knew you’d sent it but you didn’t tell the investigators about it, did you?

MH: That's correct.

#Justice4Walker

M: And when you gave evidence in the Supreme Court trial on 14 February 2022, you did not tell the prosecutor that you had sent the Nankivell message, did you?

MH: No, I did not.

M: And you did not tell the court that you had sent the Nankivell message?

MH: That's correct.

M: You must have known that the Nankivell text might have – I’m not saying it did – but might have contaminated the legal process that Constable Rolfe was going through?

MH: Looking back on it objectively I can see that.

#Justice4Walker

M: [Samara FB] stood in front of the Supreme Court after the High Court made a ruling and she said the only thing the family wants is for justice, is for a fair process to unfold?
MH: Sure.
M: You understand that?
MH: Yeah.
M: And that's what the family wanted.

#Justice4Walker

M: And do you understand that you might well have compromised that [justice/ a fair process] within 48 hours of the event?

MH: I haven’t considered that until you’ve spoken to me about it right now.

#Justice4Walker

M: Well it’s a very important message, isn't it, not just for you but for other police in that first 24 to 48 hours your behaviour might influence the outcome?

MH: Sure.

#Justice4Walker

M: And for the Warlpiri people who don’t even want this law, it’s not in their law, the least they could ask if that the law that's imposed upon them can be applied fairly?
MH: I agree.
M: Is that an unreasonable request do you think?
MH: I don’t think so.
#Justice4Walker

Hearn: Did you understand at the time that the words that are contained in that message had – carried the risk that they might be adopted by Zachary Rolfe?

MH: I – I genuinely didn’t understand – I didn’t realise at the time that that was the potential that this message had...

Derrig from NAAJA played a video of another incident involving Rolfe & MH.

D: ...wouldn't you accept that it was not necessary for Constable Rolfe to push the man in the red shirt?
MH: ...You have to ask him about it, I guess.

#Justice4Walker

Coroner: You would reflect on the possibility that there were other ways of dealing with that situation?

MH: I have reflected on it and potentially there's a number of different ways it could have been dealt with.

#Justice4Walker

Edwardson: In your wildest of dreams you at that stage would never have thought that your friend, Zachary Rolfe, would be charged with murder?

MH: Correct.

E: And so insofar as you were communicating with him on that occasion and you had passed on the messages from the person named in that sheet, you didn’t intend in any way for that to have some sort of effect on whatever version he might put
forward?

MH: That's correct.

Freckleton: Will you use this kind of disrespectful racist, sexist, homophobic language in future?
MH: No.
F: What would you say to other police members who contemplate using these denigrating terms?
MH: ...I'm definitely going to make a point of correcting that sort of behaviour

Dr Dwyer: [T]here are a significant number of the community and family who are grateful to the constable... for coming to court and facing up to that & acknowledging the mistakes made, & particularly in relation to the racists text messages & that it is meaningful that he did so.

Coroner: The inquest is here for the family to learn & understand as much as they can about the passing in very traumatic circumstances of their family member but it's obviously also a process of reflection... I hope that you have benefitted from it?

MH: Greatly
#Justice4Walker

The witness was excused and the court adjourned.

The full transcript can be found here: justice.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/…