March 2nd 2023.
A series of contentious text messages potentially influencing Constable Zachary Rolfe's defence in a murder case were not intended for him, an inquest heard. Rolfe shot 19-year-old Kumanjayi Walker three times in Yuendumu, northwest of Alice Springs, on November 9, 2019. Afterwards, he received text messages urging him to explain his intentions as self-defence against "the s--- c--- was telling him that he was going to stab the police".
(Image Source: http://www.9news.com.au) Sergeant Ian Nankivell, the sender of the messages, declared "emphatically" that they were not meant for Rolfe, but rather for Constable Mitchell Hansen, a close friend of Rolfe. In November, Hansen said Nankivell had asked him to forward the messages to Rolfe. The messages featured an acronym "IAMO plus P" that Patrick Coleridge, counsel assisting the coroner, saw as a model to justify Rolfe's shooting of Walker. READ MORE: Lawyers say NT cop who shot teen is trying to pervert course of justice
(Image Source: http://www.9news.com.au) Nankivell, however, said the acronym was part of police training in Victoria and had nothing to do with justification but with mental health. He explained that the use of the word "critics" in the text messages referred to self-criticism, not to external critics, and that the messages were never meant for anyone else but Hansen, even though he was not close to Hansen and had no relation beyond work. Rolfe was acquitted of Walker's murder by a Supreme Court jury. The inquest in Alice Springs will continue over the next two weeks, with other members of the NT Police Force, including Assistant Commissioner Bruce Porter, expected to give evidence.
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