Northern Territory police officer Zachary Rolfe was excluded from applying for a job at Queensland Police for 10 years after failing to disclose a fine he received for "violent behaviour" on his application, the NT coroner has revealed.
In a judgement dismissing a series of objections raised by his lawyers, Coroner Elisabeth Armitage said evidence before her suggested "Constable Rolfe did not provide accurate information" in applying to the NT Police Force in 2016.
Judge Armitage is currently presiding over a three-month inquest into the shooting death of Kumanjayi Walker in Yuendumu on November 9, 2019.
A jury acquitted Constable Rolfe of all charges relating to the death.
Judge Armitage wrote Constable Rolfe "failed to declare" prior Australian Defence Force disciplinary matters, that he had applied to join other police forces, and that he had been fined in Queensland for "public nuisance – violent behaviour" on his application to the NT Police Force.
The coroner said Constable Rolfe also failed to declare the fine on an earlier application to Queensland Police.
"The failure to disclose this matter was an integrity breach and … he was excluded from reapplying for the Queensland Police Service for 10 years," wrote Judge Armitage.
Constable Rolfe did declare the fine during his oral interview with NT Police.
The ruling also noted Constable Rolfe had "been the subject of an internal military investigation as a result of which he had pleaded guilty, at a military trial, to a charge of theft" during his time in the Australian army.
Judge Armitage's ruling came after a series of objections were raised by Constable Rolfe's lawyers, who sought to exclude certain aspects of evidence, including issues around his "honesty" in applying for the police force, whether he was affected by drugs or alcohol on the night Kumanjayi Walker died, and whether his evidence at trial had been "contaminated".
After last month deciding it was "premature" to rule on the scope of the coronial inquest into the death of Mr Walker, Judge Armitage has now dismissed the objections and rebuked Constable Rolfe's team for filing the objections days before the inquest began.
Rolfe an 'excellent' candidate for NT Police
The judgement revealed Constable Rolfe was overall found to be an "excellent" candidate for the NT Police Force.
But Judge Armitage also noted psychological tests, as part of the recruitment process, determined he scored "above average" when it came to aggression and was "less likely than many others" to accept responsibility for mistakes.
"Friction between Constable Rolfe and his father, Richard Rolfe, was a pattern that 'has frequently found to be associated with later resentment of authority figures in highly structured organisations in which employees are expected to comply with strict procedures'," Judge Armitage wrote.
Constable Rolfe's lawyers argued there was "no logical connection" between the evidence and the coroner's inquiry into the death of Mr Walker.
Her Honour acknowledged it was not possible to determine any direct connection but wrote the evidence could "most obviously … prove relevant to my assessment of the credibility and reliability of Constable Rolfe's evidence".
NT Police not routinely drug tested
The officer's lawyers had also objected to the inclusion of evidence about whether Constable Rolfe was affected by drugs or alcohol on the night he shot Mr Walker, arguing there was "no evidence" to suggest it.
Judge Armitage agreed, writing: "nor is there any objective evidence that he was not affected by recreational drugs or alcohol. That is because Constable Rolfe was not tested for those substances after the shooting."
Police officers in the Northern Territory are the only ones in the country who are not regularly drug-tested, nor are they routinely tested after a critical incident.
Police sergeants implicated in racist texts
Constable Rolfe's team renewed their earlier objection to text messages found on his mobile phone, while other officers involved in the exchanges also urged the court to exclude them.
The coroner found two NT Police sergeants, who held leadership positions in relation to Constable Rolfe, were involved in the text messages.
Counsel for one of the sergeants agreed with Constable Rolfe's argument that the messages were obtained illegally — which the coroner rejected – and argued "more" would be required to establish the existence of systemic racism in the NT Police Force or Immediate Response Team.
"The principal relevance of [one sergeant's] text messages is not that they are prima facie evidence of 'systemic racism' … the principal relevance of [the] text messages is that they are evidence [the sergeant] held overtly racist attitudes and … he expressed these views to his subordinates in the IRT when discussing the work of the IRT," Judge Armitage wrote.
"Some of the text messages may suggest that [the other sergeant] expressed or tolerated racism, homophobia, misogyny or contempt for senior police officers and community police in his communications with Constable Rolfe."
Judge Armitage ruled the messages, as well as evidence about Constable Rolfe's use-of-force history and whether his evidence at trial was "contaminated", were relevant to her inquiry.
