A Northern Territory police officer who shot an Indigenous teenager dead has penned an open letter and fled the country.

Constable Zachary Rolfe, who shot Kumanjayi Walker three times during a bungled outback arrest in Yuendumu, northwest of Alice Springs, in November 2019, flew out of Canberra on Thursday.

The 31-year-old has published an open letter defending his character and criticising the NT Police Force and its commissioner for how they handled the inquest into the shooting.

The letter comes after his refusal to answer questions at the coronial inquest into the 19-year-old Warlpiri man’s death.

In the letter, Const Rolfe said the NT Police Force had wasted millions of dollars on disciplining him, rather than giving him a medal.

“Despite this, the coronial focus is still on me rather than on areas that could improve the circumstances of the NT,” he wrote.

He also justified a series of texts in which he used derogatory terms towards Indigenous people, calling it “playground” language.

“I have used rude and racist terms regarding nearly every race, most often my own,” he wrote.

Const Rolfe is currently appealing a NT Supreme Court ruling that he should answer questions about the text messages, his alleged excessive use of force and allegations he falsified a police recruitment application at an ongoing coronial inquest into the shooting.

– AAP