Kumanjayi Walker: Family say they've lost sleep over 'traumatising' video of fatal shooting

Following three days of a committal hearing for the officer accused of fatally shooting Kumanjayi Walker, the case has been adjourned until September 25.

Kumanjayi Walker's cousin Samara Ferndandez-Brown speaking outside Alice Springs court in December.

Kumanjayi Walker's cousin Samara Ferndandez-Brown outside Alice Springs court in December, 2019. Source: AAP

The family of Kumanjayi Walker say they’ve lost sleep since watching the footage of the fatal shooting of the 19-year-old, in court on Wednesday.

Mr Walker’s cousin Samara Fernandez-Brown described the footage in a video posted to the Justice for Walker social media page on Thursday morning.

“It was the first time that we ever saw that content and we just wanted to get home and relax and debrief,”she said.

“A lot of us haven’t had an adequate amount of sleep, and I think playing on our minds until the late hours of last night. 

Mr Walker was fatally shot by Constable Zachary Rolfe in Yuendumu, around 300km north-west of Alice Springs on November 9 last year. 

Family members and supporters have continued to gather peacefully outside Alice Springs Court throughout the committal hearing for Rolfe, who has been charged with Mr Walker's alleged murder.

In an emotional speech outside of Alice Springs Court on Thursday, Alison Furber said she and others who had gathered on the lawns were there for justice.

“We are here for justice, justice for a human being, justice for a human life, justice for our son, justice for our nephew, justice for our brother, justice for our family,” she said.

“We are here for justice and justice will be served.”

Family members also asked the community not to share evidence on social media and to delete statuses about the fatal shooting of Mr Walker, to prevent jeopardising the case.

Inside the court, a professor of criminology at the University of South Carolina, gave expert testimony. 

Dr Geoffrey Alpert told the court that while he believes the first shot fired by Rolfe was “reasonable”, the second and third shots fired by Rolfe were “excessive, unreasonable and unnecessary”.

Thursday's proceedings also included a cross-examination of Northern Territory Police detective senior sergeant Andrew Barram and Dr Andrew McIntosh, an expert in Biomechanics - the study of forces acting on the human body - who analysed body-worn camera footage of the arrest and shooting of Kumanjayi Walker.

The case will return to court on September 25.

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2 min read
Published 3 September 2020 5:25pm
Updated 9 September 2020 2:04pm
By Keira Jenkins
Source: NITV News


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