A jury has acquitted a Northern Territory policeman of murder after he fatally shot an Aboriginal teenager during an outback arrest.

Constable Zachary Rolfe, 30, denied murdering Kumanjayi Walker after the teen stabbed him with a pair of scissors on November 9, 2019.

He also pleaded not guilty in the Northern Territory Supreme Court to the two alternative charges of manslaughter and violent act causing death.

The jury on Friday also acquitted him of those offences.

Outside court, Const Rolfe said the jury had made “the right decision”.

“A lot of people are hurting today, Kumanjayi’s family and his community, and it did not need to get to this point, so I am going to leave this space for them,” he said.

Mr Walker’s cousin Samara Fernandez Brown said the community was saddened by the result and she did not believe the trial had been fair.

“Throughout the trial Kumanjayi has been depicted solely as a dangerous individual … he has been criticised and picked apart by people who did not know him,” she said.

“They saw only his flaws and wish to put him at trial for his own death and that is disgusting.”

Mr Walker died after Const Rolfe fired three shots into the 19-year-old’s back and torso as he resisted arrest in Yuendumu, 290km northwest of Alice Springs.

The Crown conceded the first shot, fired while the teen was standing and wrestling with Sergeant Adam Eberl, was justified.

But it said the second and third shots, which were the subject of the murder charge, went “too far”.

Jurors at the five-week trial heard Const Rolfe and four other officers were ordered to patrol the community of about 800 and gather intelligence about Mr Walker’s location on the night he died.

Instead, they tracked Mr Walker down at his grandmother’s home within 15 minutes of leaving the Yuendumu police station and attempted to arrest him.

A video of the incident showed Mr Walker lying about his identity before Const Rolfe and Sgt Eberl, then a constable, tried to handcuff him about a minute later.

A scuffle broke out and the teen stabbed Const Rolfe in his shoulder with a pair of scissors before the constable fired one shot into his back.

He fired the next two shots in quick succession 2.6 seconds later.

Mr Walker died about an hour after the second shot ripped through his spleen, lung, liver and a kidney.

Prosecutor Philip Strickland SC said Sgt Eberl was effectively restraining Mr Walker on the ground when the fatal second shot hit him.

Const Rolfe was on a mission to track the teen down and his state of mind was that if he showed any resistance or pulled out a weapon he would draw his gun and fire it if necessary, he said.

The constable told the jury he felt Mr Walker’s hand on his police pistol and spotted him stabbing Sgt Eberl, and he feared for his and his partner’s lives.

Defence lawyer David Edwardson QC told the trial Const Rolfe had no choice but to pull the trigger and Mr Walker had a lengthy and violent criminal history.

He said Const Rolfe was defending himself and his partner when he fired all three shots and that he was performing his duty as a police officer.

Outside court, NT Police Association president Paul McCue said it had been a traumatic two years for many people since the shooting and a young man had lost his life.

“But let’s not forget Const Rolfe and (Sgt Eberl) were set upon viciously … and today we have seen justice,” he said.

“It was a travesty Const Rolfe was charged so quickly and without thorough investigation and we will have more to say about that in the coming days.”

Mr Edwardson said Const Rolfe should not have been charged and the investigation into his actions was appalling.

“A number of public figures have had a lot to say before he was charged and again that is regrettable,” he said.

“Consequences will flow.”

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