Warning to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers: This article contains footage and images of a person who has died.
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At 7pm one Saturday, a group of police officers, including Constable Zachary Rolfe, arrived in the remote Aboriginal community of Yuendumu.
They had orders to arrest 19-year-old Warlpiri man Kumanjayi Walker early the next morning, a court has heard. However, by 7.23pm on November 9, 2019, Mr Walker had been shot three times point blank in the chest.
An hour later, he was dead.
The Officer in Charge at the Yuendumu Police Station at the time, Sergeant Julie Frost, told the court on the fourth day of Mr Rolfe's murder trial that she had requested the deployment of the Immediate Response Team from Alice Springs. She wanted them to help arrest Mr Walker after he breached a court order by fleeing a rehab centre to come home for a funeral.
Sergeant Frost said she had devised a plan that involved the team conducting patrols and being on call for the evening before arresting Mr Walker at 5.30 the next morning with the help of a Yuendumu police officer with "local knowledge".
When Mr Rolfe and another team member, Constable James Kirstenfeldt, arrived, Sergeant Frost said it immediately became apparent that Constable Kirstenfeldt did not respect her authority.
"I found him to be very dominating," she told the court.
"It appeared he was trying to take over the conversation and would not listen to me."
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Mr Rolfe stands charged with murder and two alternative lesser charges over the event, which unfolded shortly after, when he shot Mr Walker during an attempted arrest.
The shots were fired after Mr Walker attacked Mr Rolfe with a pair of surgical scissors. Mr Walker was declared dead of his injuries in the Yuendumu police station at 8.36pm.
Mr Rolfe has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The court was also shown CCTV footage during Sergeant Frost's evidence showing Constable Kirstenfeldt entering the Yuendumu police station carrying a large rifle.
Sergeant Frost said she enlisted the response team's help because she believed members had "a higher level of training regarding high-risk apprehensions". Mr Walker was regarded as such given he had run at local officers with an axe when they had tried to arrest him just days earlier.
The court also heard Yuendumu had been struggling with resource shortages. Community unrest and a spate of recent break-ins had meant all the medical staff in the community had left that day because of safety concerns.
This meant the medical staff from the community of Yuelamu, about 45 minutes away, would be called for any medical emergencies in Yuendumu, and would require a police escort in the community.
"I took them [the response team] through the events of what had been happening in Yuendumu...The clinic staff had left the community, there'd been a funeral and there was a ceremony after taking place at that time," Sergeant Frost said.
"[Yuendumu had] huge resource problems."
The team was also put on-call for any incidents during night, allowing Sergeant Frost and the other local officer to sleep.
Sergeant Frost said she wanted the arrest to take place early in the morning because it is "a far safer time to arrest people".
However, when asked by one of the team members what to do if they happened across Mr Walker that night, she told the court she replied: "by all means, lock him up".
The court also heard from Mr Walker's mother-in-law, Lottie Robertson, who was present at the "axe incident" three days before his death.
Mrs Robertson said she was "shaken up" by the incident and angry at Mr Walker.
"After that incident happened at my house I told him to go and stay with families, because I think it was not safe for him to stay at my house any more," she said.
Mrs Robertson said her husband Eddie tried to convince Mr Walker to hand himself into police after a subsequent conversation with Sergeant Frost.
The trial continues.
