A Northern Territory policeman accused of murdering an Aboriginal teenager fired the fatal shots from point-blank range while his alleged victim was restrained, a court has been told.

Constable Zachary Rolfe, 30, has pleaded not guilty to the shooting murder of Kumanjayi Charles Arnold Walker in November 2019.

The 19-year-old died after he was shot three times in the remote outback community of Yuendumu, 290km northwest of Alice Springs.

Prosecutor Philip Strickland SC says Rolfe fired his first shot 60 seconds after finding Mr Walker at a home in the desert community of about 800.

It hit Mr Walker in the back but did not kill him and he continued to wrestle with Rolfe’s partner while holding a pair of scissors in his right hand.

Mr Strickland said Mr Walker was held down and his right arm was beneath him when Rolfe fired two more shots from “point-blank” range 2.6 seconds later.

“The accused stood over Kumanjayi Walker whilst he was pinned down … and fired again, this time into his left torso,” he told the Supreme Court in Darwin on Monday.

“About 0.5 seconds after the second shot the accused fired a third time.”

Mr Strickland said Rolfe “deliberately fired the three shots” in a rapid discharge of shots called a “double tap”.

“The double tap is designed to ensure maximum injury or death,” he said.

“When the accused fired the second and third shots he intended to kill Kumanjayi Walker, or cause him serious harm.”

The second and third shots killed Mr Walker.

Mr Strickland said the shooting was “not reasonable” because Mr Walker was “on the ground and effectively restrained”.

About a week before he died, Mr Walker removed an electronic monitoring device and fled an Alice Springs alcohol rehabilitation centre so he could attend a relative’s funeral.

He also threatened police in Yuendumu with an axe as he ran from them after a warrant was issued for his arrest.

The two officers involved said he was not attempting to “chop them up” and “just wanted to escape”.

Other officers had also spoken to senior community members who told them Mr Walker would hand himself in after the funeral.

Mr Strickland told the court Rolfe joined the NT Police in 2016 and was member of the Immediate Response Team tasked with high-risk operations using semi-automatic weapons.

He was also an ex-soldier who had served in Afghanistan.

“He had extensive experience in handling firearms and weapons but he had limited experience in performing police work in a remote Indigenous community such as Yuendumu,” he said.

Outside court, Yuendumu community member Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves said his people were “still hurting” and “very angry” over the death.

“There is so much we can say but let the court take over that,” he said.

“We want to see justice.”

Earlier, Rolfe said he was “feeling very confident” when he arrived at court.

“It’s taken a while,” he said as he purposely strode towards the court with more than a dozen supporters and members of his legal team.

“Good it has finally started.”

His trial has been postponed three times – twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic and most recently following a High Court challenge over the proposed defence.

It is likely to go for about a month with about 50 witnesses and experts. 

The jury will sit from 9.30am until 1.15pm each day – instead of the usual 10am to 4pm – to “reduce the chance of people catching the virus”, a court spokesperson said.

Sitting for less than four hours a day will also prevent jury members from being deemed close contacts and having to isolate if one of them becomes infected.

The jury has been divided with 10 jurors on one side of the court room and four in the witness box.

Rolfe is sitting in the public gallery behind his defence team led by David Edwardson QC.

The trial continues on Tuesday.

AAP

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