Health workers evacuated from a remote Northern Territory community before police shot dead an Indigenous man should have considered the risks to residents when they left, an inquest has been told.
Kumanjayi Walker, 19, died after Constable Zachary Rolfe shot him three times during a botched arrest in Yuendumu, northwest of Alice Springs on November 9, 2019.
Officers fought to save the Warlpiri man’s life but he died on the floor at the local police station about an hour after the incident.
No medical staff were on call in the community to attend to Mr Walker because the majority had fled earlier in the day after a series of break-ins at their homes left some feeling “very unsafe”.
Nurse Vanessa Watts says offenders tried to break into her home the night before they evacuated but she woke up and turned on the lights.
The would-be burglars then moved onto the home of Ms Watts’ boss Luana Symonds, where they also attempted to gain entry.
“The whole house was shaking,” she told the Alice Springs inquest on Monday.
“I was a little bit scared just because of the real force being used … I later found that they were using shovels, pick axes and stuff.”
The inquiry heard that break-ins and vandalism had increased markedly in the months before and the health workers believed they were being targeted.
Ms Watts said she often found knives wedged in the door at the home she shared with her young son and offenders, thought to be youths, broke into her yard and garage most nights.
In the weeks before Mr Walker was killed, youths attacked the health clinics with rocks while Ms Watts was treating a patient in the emergency ward.
The incidents became almost daily across the community, which largely felt powerless to stop the crime.
“We’d have a morning meeting and generally there would be one nurse that had people trying to break into their house the night before,” Ms Watts said.
That included the break-in at Ms Symonds’ home on November 6, three days before Mr Walker died and offenders tried to break into the home again.
Despite the ongoing attacks, Ms Watts agreed with counsel assisting Peggy Dwyer that the medical staff should have more fully considered the risk to the Yuendumu community when they decided to evacuate for the weekend on November 9 and leave the clinic unattended.
She also agreed that some health workers should have stayed behind with additional protection, but then added that they “couldn’t have prevented what happened”.
“If you’re going to say would you have preferred to be there when that incident happened, then yes, of course, because you want to help,” she said.
Many people in the Warlpiri community were angry and upset over the medical staff leaving, with some community members blaming the team for Mr Walker’s death.
Ms Watts said she understood why they felt let down and there were important lessons to be learned from the evacuation process.
Medical support was assigned to the nursing post at Yuelamu, about 70km from Yuendumu.
Mr Walker died from his injuries as the Yuelamu medical team drove to the scene.
Earlier, Ms Symonds also addressed the community members listening to the inquest.
“I speak for myself and the health centre staff at the time that we were there with you at the beginning of your lives and we’re still here with you now,” she said.
“We constantly think about you and what’s happened.”
The inquest continues Tuesday.
