NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner has defended his comments about Constable Zachary Rolfe despite a Supreme Court Judge referencing them as he moved the trial from Alice Springs to Darwin.
Mr Gunner travelled to Yuendumu three days after Constable Rolfe shot dead Kumanjayi Walker during a botched arrest attempt in the remote community in November 2019.
After a suppression order was lifted last Friday, it can be revealed Justice Dean Mildren referred to Mr Gunner’s comments when he made the decision to move Constable Rolfe’s trial from Alice Springs to Darwin. He then listed several examples including “claims that a leading politician told a public meeting in Yuendumu that ‘consequences will flow’ as a result of the investigation into the matter”.
Justice Mildren also cited a “very concerning article in a local Alice Springs community on-line news forum” published in late November 2020. During his trial it was revealed that Constable Rolfe had never discharged his firearm in combat during his five-year army career.