A Northern Territory policeman who killed an Indigenous teenager talked about killing before the incident, his former fiancee has told an inquest.
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Claudia Campagnaro told police she wasn't surprised Constable Zachary Rolfe had shot dead Kumanjayi Walker during a bungled outback arrest.
The former police officer, now a nurse, also said Const Rolfe admitted using excessive force to arrest Indigenous offenders and senior officers covered up for him.
Mr Walker, 19, died on November 9, 2019 after Const Rolfe shot him three times in Yuendumu, northwest of Alice Springs.
An inquest into his death on Friday heard Const Rolfe swept Ms Campagnaro off her feet and the pair were engaged after about five weeks.
But by the time they broke up a year later, she had a very poor opinion of her lover.
"When we first met I thought he was very charming ... So kind and generous, and by the end of it he was just the total opposite of what I thought he was," she said.
"The charm had well and truly fallen."
Ms Campagnaro told the coroner that during the time she was a police officer with Const Rolfe in Alice Springs, he confided that his goal was to join the Australian Defence Force's Special Air Service regiment so he could "be paid to go out and shoot people".
"It wasn't until later on in the relationship that I started thinking those comments were vile," she said.
In an interview with detectives after Mr Walker was killed, Ms Campagnaro said Const Rolfe didn't like being in the NT police.
"He thought it was a joke, and yeah, he just wanted to get into the SAS, because basically, yeah, they go away for long periods of time, get paid a lot of money, and go out and kill people," she said.
The inquest heard Const Rolfe linked shooting a person on the job with going on a paid holiday during the investigation that followed, allegedly saying on several occasions he would "like" to kill.
"This was toward the end of our relationship because I actually remember saying to him: 'No, that's not the kind of holiday that I want to go on''," Ms Campagnaro said.
"I remember feeling, at that time, uncomfortable him saying that."
Const Rolfe regularly used racist terms, such as c**n and n***** to describe Aboriginal people.
"Zach didn't care about or like any of the Indigenous people there," she said.
He also spoke about being investigated over the alleged excessive use of force against a handcuffed man and admitted punching him in the head while he was on the ground.
The inquest heard multiple officers, including another of Const Rolfe's former lovers, took part in the incident.
Ms Campagnaro said Const Rolfe told her he later had a female detective scratch his face so he could blame the offender and justify his actions.
She also alleged Const Rolfe said senior police covered up other incidents where he used unjustified force to arrest an offender.
"He told me that (Sergeant) Lee Bauwens and (Snr Sergeant) Alistair Gall, had on several occasions, dealt with his, you know, reports, and unjustified forces, for him," she said.
Ms Campagnaro agreed she had an obligation to speak up about Const Rolfe's behaviour and failed to do so.
"I feel really sad that I was a part of you know, a cascade of events that led to that,' she said.
"Even though I was brand new, I should have had more of a voice, and reported it. But I didn't. And I am, I'm really sorry about that."
The inquest also heard about Ms Campagnaro's reaction when told Const Rolfe had shot Mr Walker dead.
"I wasn't really surprised that it was him," she told detectives.
"If it was going to be anyone that was involved in that kind of thing, it was going to be him."
Australian Associated Press
