The alleged sexual assault of a child has been revealed as the reason for a search warrant against Dezi Freeman that ended with him shooting dead two Victorian police officers.
Fresh details into the August deaths of Det Leading Sen Const Neal Thompson, 59, and Sen Const Vadim De Waart-Hottart, 35, at Freeman’s home were detailed in a coroner’s court directions hearing on Monday morning.
Freeman, also known as Desmond Filby, was shot dead by police in March, after being discovered at makeshift campsite about 150km away.
The counsel assisting the inquest, Linsday Spence, said in his opening summary police had executed the warrant after receiving disclosure of an alleged sexual assault involving a child under the age of 16, as well as an attempt to involve a child in the production of child abuse material.
“The purpose of the search warrant was for the locating and seizure of electronic devices that were to be interrogated for the potential presence of child abuse material,” he told the court.
“It was also intended that the person of interest was to be arrested and subsequently interviewed.”
The two killed officers were among a team of police serving a warrant at his home at Porepunkah, 310km north-west of Melbourne.
After Freeman killed Thompson and De Waart-Hottart, he led police on one of the nation’s largest manhunts.
The seven-month search for the 56-year-old ended when he died after being shot by police on a remote property in Thologolong, near Walwa on the Victoria-NSW border, on 30 March.
State coroner Liberty Sanger was holding directions hearings for the inquest into the deaths of the police officers on Monday morning, before turning her attention to Freeman’s death in the afternoon.
The dates and the scope of the inquests – and decisions on who would give evidence – were expected to be set on Monday.
The coroner will examine the three deaths in detail to establish how they died and what could be done to prevent future deaths, according to Queensland University of Technology forensic criminologist Dr Claire Ferguson.
“They’ll have a full reconstruction of what actually occurred, and that might be establishing people’s exact positioning in the scenes and forensic evidence,” Ferguson said.
Speculation has been rife over how Freeman came to be in Thologolong, about 150km from the Porepunkah site where he fatally shot the officers.
That could also form part of the investigation.
Timeline
The Porepunkah shooting and Dezi Freeman manhunt
Show
Ten police officers, including officers from the child abuse squad, attend a property at Rayner Track in Porepunkah at about 10.30am to execute a search warrant. Two officers are killed and another wounded. A heavily armed suspect escapes into the bush alone. Police deploy specialist resources, including air and ground, to find him.
Victoria police name the suspect as Dezi Freeman, 56. Officers killed are named as Det Leading Sen Const Neal Thompson, 59, and Sen Const Vadim De Waart-Hottart, 35.
Officers from the Australian federal police’s elite tactical team are deployed. Police urge alleged killer to ring triple zero and surrender. Police arrest wife of Dezi Freeman, 42, and another individual in a late-night raid at a Porepunkah address. They are questioned and released “pending further inquiries”.
Police announce “up to $1m” reward for information on Dezi Freeman, the largest ever offered in Victoria for an arrest, and warn public not to go looking for the “high-risk” fugitive.
More than 125 specialist officers conduct the country’s “largest ever tactical policing operation” in the inhospitable terrain around Freeman’s property, including officers seconded from all Australian states and New Zealand.
Authorities lift travel restrictions in the Porepunkah area to “allow the community to return to a state of normality”.
Police conduct firearms testing near Barrett Lane and Rayner Track in Porepunkah, triggered by reports of a gunshot in the vicinity on the day of the police shooting.
Police begin five-day search in Victorian high country for Freeman, and conduct further firearms testing as part of their investigation. Police say they are exploring three scenarios in relation to Freeman: that he died near Mount Buffalo by self-harm or misadventure; that he escaped the area and was being harboured; or that he escaped the area and had survived without help.
Victoria police say they do not have sufficient evidence to proceed with charges against three people (including Freeman’s wife) as part of the broader investigation into the fatal Porepunkah police shootings.
Police shoot Freeman dead after a seven-month manhunt.
Footage showed Freeman wrapped in a blanket when he emerged from the shipping container at Thologolong, which appeared to be a makeshift campsite, before pulling a gun from underneath and pointing it at police.
It was not known if he had fired the gun before multiple officers shot him dead, but the state’s police commissioner, Mike Bush, has maintained the shooting was justified.
Whether that video will be shown to the public will depend on the coroner weighing up the benefits of transparency and accountability and the probative value of people seeing police shoot someone, Bond University criminologist Terry Goldsworthy said.
Investigators had been exploring the possibility Freeman received help from others in evading police for 216 days, with Bush saying it would have been very difficult for him to get to where he was without assistance.
