NOTGUILTY Australia - Kumanjayi Walker, 19, fatally shot by LE, Yuendumu, Nov 2019

[Trooper]

Ben Roberts-Smith a mentor to Zachary Rolfe, the NT police officer cleared of murder

Relationship between two former soldiers detailed in statement by Rolfe’s mother, Debbie, in Roberts-Smith’s defamation trial

www.theguardian.com

( this article is from 2022, but it is appropriate to include it in this current narrative,, particularly in the light of the conclusions and directives from the NT police in regard to their overwhelming habit of employing ex soldiers, and in the case of Rolfe, and who knows how many more, ex soldiers with dodgy backgrounds and behavioural issues, both accounted for in the army and practiced in the NT police force operations. Which, any Human Resources Office would have picked up, within a few weeks, not when catastrophic events occur.

Ben Roberts Smith took two newspapers to court for defamation about his murderous gambols in Afghanistan, this was his own court case, no one forced him to bring it on, turned out to be a mega own goal, a Darwin Award event, a true measure of soldiering gone wrong.)

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The relationship between the two men, who have been at the centre of separate trials that have dominated the media for more than a month, is detailed in a statement by Rolfe’s mother, Debbie, submitted to court as part of Roberts-Smith’s case.
Debbie Rolfe writes in the statement that she first met Roberts-Smith in about March 2011 when she was in a Canberra store with Zach and her husband, Richard.

“We spoke and ‘connected’ straight away in part because Zach had recently joined the Australian Army,” Debbie Rolfe said.

“My husband and I thereafter met Ben, and his [then] wife Emma [Roberts], through my husband’s work for the Australian War Memorial and Soldier On, and our families subsequently became good friends. We met from time to charity functions and social occasions.”



According to Rolfe’s mother’s June 2021 statement, Roberts-Smith had been kind and helpful to her son since they met in 2011.


‘This case is tragic’: Zachary Rolfe is cleared and an Aboriginal family left with questions
Read more
Debbie Rolfe, a prominent Canberra lawyer and philanthropist, provided the statement as part of Roberts-Smith’s defamation case.

 

[Trooper]

Ben Roberts-Smith and Zach Rolfe party at Bali beach club

The two men smile into the camera for a selfie. An account bearing Rolfe’s name notes: “Just a couple cops/murderers and war criminals Havin a lovely afternoon in the sun”.

www.smh.com.au

Disgraced SAS soldier Ben Roberts-Smith and Zachary Rolfe, a Northern Territory police officer who shot dead an Indigenous teenager, have been photographed relaxing in a Bali pool – an account appearing to bear Rolfe’s name joking about the downtime of “cops/murderers and war criminals”.

The men at the centre of two major national scandals have been fast friends for years, since “connecting” over their military careers.

.......

 

[Hag]

Ben Roberts-Smith and Zach Rolfe party at Bali beach club

The two men smile into the camera for a selfie. An account bearing Rolfe’s name notes: “Just a couple cops/murderers and war criminals Havin a lovely afternoon in the sun”.

www.smh.com.au

Disgraced SAS soldier Ben Roberts-Smith and Zachary Rolfe, a Northern Territory police officer who shot dead an Indigenous teenager, have been photographed relaxing in a Bali pool – an account appearing to bear Rolfe’s name joking about the downtime of “cops/murderers and war criminals”.

The men at the centre of two major national scandals have been fast friends for years, since “connecting” over their military careers.

.......

No shame, ie if true account. IMO

 

[Trooper]

Kumanjayi Walker inquest: coroner to decide on recusing herself after Zachary Rolfe questions impartiality

Application by the former NT police officer increases chance case could be further delayed

www.theguardian.com

More legal juggling by Rolge, who's pockets must be deeper than the Mariana Trench, all on a N T casual coppers ' stand down pay, or he is being backed by big money, big in the kind of Kerry Stokes of Channel 7 backer of Roberts Smith kind of big deep, that sort of deep that never ends and wants to make a statement of political perspective with money.


'''''"Guardian Australia revealed last Monday that Rolfe had applied for the NT coroner, Elisabeth Armitage, to recuse herself from the Walker case, in another remarkable development in an inquest that had been expected to take three months but has dragged on for more than a year.

In submissions, lawyers for Rolfe argue that Armitage may not be able to be impartial because of the visit, including because Dwyer did not object when Warlpiri elders mentioned spearing Rolfe as punishment for the shooting, that the coroner may have had her face painted by Walker’s mother and that Dwyer held the hand of an elder.

Rolfe also argued that the lifting of a suppression order earlier in the year had assisted in a push for the NT police to dismiss the constable from the force. Rolfe was later dismissed, but because of an open letter he published and not because of material released after the amendment of the order.

Rolfe’s application is joined by several other NT police officers, but opposed by Walker’s family, the NT police and the Yuendumu community.

Multiple people familiar with the application who spoke with Guardian Australia said it was expected Rolfe would appeal against the decision to the supreme court if Armitage did not recuse herself........'

 

[Trooper]

Kumanjayi Walker inquest: coroner declines Zachary Rolfe’s request to recuse herself from case

Rolfe had applied for Elisabeth Armitage to recuse herself on the grounds of apprehended bias after she met Yuendumu community members

www.theguardian.com

( Rolfe's basis for his action was his objection to the coroner adhering to the customs and expectations of the people of Yuendumu, probably on the grounds that anything of Koori custom was offensive to Rolfe)


Slowly, slowly, this serpentine case winds it's way thru the jungle of jurisprudence and judgement, one step at a time, It's like the Northern Territory equivalent of a minuet, tiny precise steps, inching progress, one step forward, two steps back, all accompanied by some ghostly wind music of the life of Kuminjaya Walker, a young man of immense value to those who knew and loved him.

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The coroner presiding over the inquest into the shooting death of Kumanjayi Walker has declined to recuse herself from the case after an application was made by former Northern Territory police officer Zachary Rolfe.

Two weeks before the inquest into the death was set to resume on Monday 23 October, Rolfe applied for coroner Elisabeth Armitage to recuse herself on the grounds of apprehended bias.

According to documents released by the court, lawyers for Rolfe argued that Armitage should recuse herself from the hearing because of how she and the counsel assisting, Peggy Dwyer, conducted themselves during a meeting with community members in Yuendumu, and because of a decision to revoke a non-publication order without consulting other parties.

n Armitage’s ruling, delivered on Wednesday evening, she wrote “I decline to recuse myself from proceeding with the inquest”.

“Having carefully considered Mr Rolfe’s application for recusal, for the reasons that follow: I am not persuaded that a fair-minded lay observer might reasonably apprehend that I might not bring an impartial mind to the resolution of the issues arising under the Act.”

In submissions, lawyers for Rolfe argued that Armitage may not be able to be impartial because of the visit, including because Dwyer did not object when Warlpiri elders mentioned spearing Rolfe as punishment for the shooting, and that Dwyer held the hand of an elder and the coroner may have had her face painted by Walker’s mother.''''''''''

 

[Trooper]

The gladiatorial contest here between some of the poorest people on this earth, and someone with a pair of the very deepest pockets in Australia backing in Rolfe will one day be exposed.. In the meantime, the source for Rolfe's apparent never ending cheque book for barristers, QC"s, paralegals, holidays in Bali etc are a bit of a mystery. But not for long, I suspect.

 

[Trooper]

And still, it goes on.. ..... Zachary Rolfe’s ego played a part in Kumanjayi Walker’s shooting death, NT coroner told

This is the inquest into the death of Kuminjayi.... long delayed, by Rolfe, using one objection after another, but here it is....

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''''''The counsel assisting the coroner, Dr Peggy Dwyer SC, said on Wednesday that it would be submitted to the NT coroner, Elisabeth Armitage, that she should find Rolfe “invented” evidence during his trial that Walker tried to take his police weapon and she could not accept he feared for his life at the time of the shooting.

Dwyer said Armitage should also reject submissions on behalf of Rolfe that his conduct prior to November 2019 was irrelevant to the case.

Dwyer said it was important to consider Rolfe’s history in the NT police force and before he joined, including his being dishonest during his application, and that he held racist attitudes towards Aboriginal people.''''''

( I think this trial, the next trial, and the inquest are landmarks in Australian legal history, time will tell.. ) >

 

[Trooper]

Zachary Rolfe’s ego played a part in Kumanjayi Walker’s shooting death, NT coroner told

Coroner urged not to ‘sugarcoat’ police officer’s actions as inquest nears end

www.theguardian.com

Walker tried to stab the officers with scissors when they attempted to arrest him. But Rolfe said during his trial that Walker also put his hand on his gun as they struggled before the shooting.

Dwyer said Rolfe had never provided that detail before giving evidence, including in conversations with colleagues, lengthy notes about the shooting in his police diary, and in multiple takes of a video interview with a journalist at The Australian.


She said the evidence Rolfe gave at trial about the gun was “an invention”.

“That’s a significant finding, your honour, and I make it carefully and after careful consideration, and we have set out the evidence in full,” Dwyer said.

“As a result of this lie, the lies Mr Rolfe told regarding the broader events of 9 November 2019 and the significant issues with respect to his credibility as a historian of his own use of force mean that your honour couldn’t accept, even on balance … Mr Rolfe’s evidence that he feared for his or [his colleague’s] life when he fatally shot Kumanjayi Walker.”

Rolfe denied he lied about Walker attempting to take the gun when he gave evidence during the inquest earlier this year.

 

[Trooper]

MSN

His former employer, NT Police, had this to say in regard to Rolfe.. from the NT POLICE lawyer....

MSN