The Northern Territory’s top court will consider whether police officers are immune from criminal prosecution if performing their lawful duty.
The scrutiny relates to the long-awaited trial for a policeman accused of murdering a young Indigenous man during an outback arrest gone wrong.
Constable Zachary Rolfe, 29, is accused of murdering Kumanjayi Walker, 19, who was shot three times during an arrest in the remote community of Yuendumu in November 2019.
Trial judge Acting-Justice Dean Mildren has referred four questions to a full bench of the Supreme Court to consider so he can better understand the NT’s Police Administration Act.
The legislation contains provisions that protect police officers from civil and criminal prosecution for certain actions if performing an authorised duty in “good faith”.
One of the questions asks whether the jury should be asked to consider the Act’s immunity provision and how it relates to Rolfe’s second and third shots, which killed Mr Walker.
Another seeks to clarify how the legislation relates to the Crown’s alternative charges against Rolfe – reckless or negligent conduct causing death and engaging in a violent act causing death.
The answers are likely to determine what Justice Mildren instructs the jury to consider when Rolfe’s trial goes ahead or if it goes ahead.
Rolfe has denied wrongdoing and was expected to plead not guilty on Monday but his trial was postponed due to COVID-19 after the Crown’s NSW-based prosecution team found themselves unable to travel to the Top End.
The full bench will sit on Wednesday.
AAP
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