For five weeks in the Northern Territory Supreme Court, a jury of 12 men and women listened to more than 40 witnesses give evidence during one of the country's most closely watched murder trials.
Northern Territory Police officer Zachary Rolfe pleaded not guilty to murder, after shooting Warlpiri man Kumanjayi Walker in a remote community during an attempted arrest.
The jury heard Constable Rolfe and his Immediate Response Team (IRT) were called out to Yuendumu to arrest the 19-year-old.
But what the jury didn't know was that for two years, the lawyers who stood before them had been arguing over what could and could not be included in the trial in which they played such a critical role.
Constable Rolfe has since been acquitted of all charges.
Now, some of the information jurors were barred from hearing can finally be published.
The tendency evidence
In December 2021, two months before Constable Rolfe, 30, was put on trial, Crown Prosecutor Philip Strickland SC put forward four incidents involving Constable Rolfe allegedly using excessive force.
In one instance, a local court judge had found Constable Rolfe likely "deliberately banged" an Aboriginal man's head into the ground during an arrest and "lied" in his evidence about the incident.
Prosecutors alleged on another occasion the officer banged a 17-year-old boy's head into a rock after he gave chase.
In a third alleged incident, the court heard Constable Rolfe ran "full force" into a man, pushing him into a barricade, while a fourth alleged incident detailed the officer allegedly pushing a man into a wall without warning.
Prosecutors sought to put the so-called "tendency incidents" before the jury, to prove Constable Rolfe had a tendency to "use excessive force on a male" and to "make a false statement… seeking to justify that use excessive use of force".
Constable Rolfe has never faced any charges over the alleged incidents, and his barrister told the court last week the tendency evidence was "misconceived" and "unsubstantiated".
David Edwardson QC, for Constable Rolfe, also submitted there were "marked differences" between the tendency incidents and the arrest of Mr Walker, including that Mr Walker had used a weapon against Constable Rolfe, whereas none of the other alleged incidents involved weapons.
Justice John Burns ruled in January, about three weeks before the trial, the evidence could not be used by the crown as "they do not have significant probative value".
He also said, "for the Crown to prove the facts in those tendency incidents will effectively require it to conduct five separate trials".
The text messages
Two text messages said to have been sent by Constable Rolfe to an army friend in February and July 2019 showed he described Alice Springs as a "shit hole" and his job in the IRT as "cowboy stuff with no rules."
Constable Rolfe's barristers argued the text messages were "unlawfully obtained" and Justice Burns later ruled the messages could not be included as part of the Crown case.
"The prosecution unsuccessfully argued, or sought to argue, that there was some sinister connotation to what was said," Mr Edwardson told the court.
"Those text messages were made to members of the army, and they were made in the context of the army. Nothing to do with this case. Nothing to do with the context in which he was charged."
In Justice John Burns' decision, released to the public on Friday, he said prosecutors argued the messages revealed "an expression of attitude on the part of the accused that the 'rules' do not apply to him in his activities as a police officer".
Justice Burns accepted the messages were "capable" of being interpreted in the way the Crown sought.
However, he said prosecutors would have had to establish Constable Rolfe "held that state of mind" when the messages were sent, and "also held it on 9 November 2019" – the date Kumanjayi Walker was shot.
Witness 'intimidation'
Three weeks into the trial, in the absence of the jury, Mr Strickland told the court the Crown's key witness had been "intimidated" by Constable Rolfe's father, Richard Rolfe, in the bathroom of the court.
"[Senior Sergeant Barram] was spoken to by the accused's father, who commented on his evidence," said Mr Strickland.
"And stared at him in what was described as an intimidating manner."
Sergeant Barram was the prosecution's use-of-force expert witness, who told the court Constable Rolfe did not follow his training during the attempted arrest of Kumanjayi Walker.
After the incident, Mr Rolfe told the ABC he had said "thank you" to Sergeant Barram as they passed each other in the bathroom.
Mr Rolfe said he believed the witness was trying to upset him and his son, Constable Rolfe.
'Consequences will flow'
Statements made by the Northern Territory's Chief Minister Michael Gunner, as well as the then-Independent Commissioner Against Corruption, Ken Fleming QC, in the days following Kumanjayi Walker's death had been subject to a wide-ranging suppression order since well before the jury was empanelled.
Mr Gunner told an emotional crowd at Yuendumu, days after Mr Walker was shot by Constable Rolfe that "consequences will flow" as a result of an investigation into the shooting.
Constable Rolfe was charged with murder four days after shooting.
Police Association president Paul McCue said Mr Gunner's actions created a "perception" of "political interference".
He said the Northern Territory police issued a press release saying Constable Rolfe had been charged with murder and released on bail, while the officer was still sitting in the cells of the Darwin watchhouse.
Mr McCue also said Mr Rolfe's name and address had been "leaked" not long after the officer was charged.
Mr Gunner has been forced to defend his comments since Constable Rolfe was acquitted, telling Darwin's Mix FM he "had absolutely no involvement in the charges", and that his comments referred only to an upcoming coronial inquest into Mr Walker's death.
He said his comments in Yuendumu had been taken out of context.
Former Independent Commissioner Against Corruption, Ken Fleming QC, was also forced to remove himself from any investigation into the Yuendumu shooting after telling a "Justice for Walker" rally not long after the incident: "One of the most important messages today is 'Black Lives Matter'… Anybody who says contrary to that is guilty of corrupt behaviour."
Mr Fleming announced his retirement in January 2021 and his replacement Michael Riches has since announced he is "considering" whether to inquire "into the circumstances of the investigation and arrest of Mr Rolfe."
