Inquest begins into Dezi Freeman’s death, Porepunkah police shootings

Seven months after he ambushed and shot two police officers, Dezi Freeman was shot and killed by specialist police, who had tracked him to a remote hideout in Thologolong, near the town of Walwa and near the NSW border.

Thologolong is about 160 kilometres north-east of Porepunkah.

Freeman, 56, was living in a shipping container on the property. He was found to have been holding a pistol he took from one of the officers he murdered in Porepunkah.

Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart were among a team of police who travelled to a remote property in Porepunkah to serve Dezi Freeman with a warrant over historical sexual assault offences.

Freeman was living in a bus on the property. About 10.30am on August 26, Freeman ambushed the police and shot dead two officers and wounded a third officer.

Freeman then fled into the bush, and the manhunt that was to last seven months began.

Thompson, 59, who joined Victoria Police in 1987 and was based in the state’s north-east, was weeks away from retirement. De Waart-Hottart, 35, was originally from Belgium, but had been with Victoria Police for about five years and was on a secondment in the region.

Good morning, welcome to our coverage of the coronial inquest into the deaths of police officers Neal Thompson and Vadim de Waart-Hottart, and the man who murdered them, Dezi Freeman.

Victoria’s state coroner, Judge Liberty Sanger, will today begin her formal inquiry into the deaths, with two directions hearings at the Coroners Court.

Coronial hearings are held for violent or unnatural deaths, to determine exactly what happened. The inquiry assists coroners to make recommendations to prevent similar deaths in the future.

Sanger’s investigation will likely scrutinise the events that led to the police officers attending the Porepunkah property where Freeman was living last year, and the events of August 26, when Freeman shot and killed the officers and then went into hiding.

The inquest will also focus on the manhunt for Freeman and the events of March 30, when he was shot dead in a confrontation with police at a property in Thologolong, near the NSW border.

Reporters Erin Pearson and Grant McArthur will be in court today to bring you the latest developments.