The family of suspected cop killer Dezi Freeman has warned ‘he won’t go to jail’ if the alleged double cop killer is eventually tracked down by the 450-strong search team trying to find him.
Freeman, 56, disappeared into the bush last Tuesday after allegedly opening fire on police officers – killing two – when they went onto his Porepunkah property, about 300km northeast of Melbourne, to serve a warrant.
Police helicopters and drones have circled the skies for a week, scanning the rugged terrain in the hope of catching the slightest sign of the gunman’s whereabouts.
Now a family member, speaking exclusively to Daily Mail on the condition of anonymity, has revealed they fear what he is capable of if cornered.
‘He won’t go to jail. Never. Ever,’ the family member said.
‘He knows there is a life sentence waiting for him and he won’t serve a single day of it.
‘There are no good outcomes but he would rather live in the bush, take his own life or a possible shootout with the police – death by cop so to speak.’
Freeman’s family rejects his extreme anti-authoritarian views, saying their ‘hearts’ are with the police and have come to accept they may never see the father-of-three again.
Dezi Freeman, 56, fled into the bush on Tuesday after a bloody ambush at his property in Porepunkah
Freeman was living in this bus when the ambush took place
‘We are not defending him, simply providing some insight into the tortured soul that is Dezi Freeman,’ the family member explained.
‘Dezi doesn’t have a job and he’s grown distant from societal norms and expectations. But this led to the feeling police were out to get him at every turn.’
The family had watched him drift away from mainstream society, becoming a loner convinced the systems set up to protect him were doing the opposite.
‘He’s not technically a Sovereign Citizen, although the shoe fits,’ they said.
‘He sees the Australian government as a corporation rather than as per the constitution. The change of coat of arms etcetera.
‘This is not the family’s belief, we just want to explain it.’
The family has been assisting detectives in the investigation, and noted the police had been ‘so kind to us’ despite having lost two colleagues: Detective Neal Thompson, 49, and Senior Constable Vadim De Waart, 35.
Freeman, who has survival training and years of experience in the bush, was last seen wearing dark green tracksuit pants, a dark green rain jacket, Blundstone boots and reading glasses.
The Freeman family said they were grateful that the police have shown kindness during the investigation
Search efforts have been hampered by wintry conditions which Freeman’s family said the fugitive would be embracing
Search efforts have been hampered by wintry conditions, with thunderstorms, heavy rain and hail battering the search area in northeast Victoria.
But Freeman’s family member warned he will be relishing the conditions knowing they will aid his ability to remain at large, and noted he had been exploring the country around Mount Buffalo since the 1980s.
‘He has been prepping for doomsday all his life. A comet, WW3, whatever that might be,’ the relative said.
‘And when that day was to come he would live in the mountains.
‘He believes the police bully him and he just wants to be left alone.
‘Of course the police are holding him accountable, however, he has a way of poking the bear unfortunately, and brings much of this on himself.
‘He has always been more about ideals of living a natural life like American Indians. So I guess this all just evolved over time.’
On Monday afternoon Victoria Police Superintendent Brett Kahan said Freeman is being helped by people who know where he is, and are choosing not to speak up.
Freeman’s wife Amalia
‘Last time I spoke in front of you, I appealed directly to Dezi Freeman to ring triple-0,’ Superintendent Kahan said.
‘I’m going to change tack a little bit.
‘I extend that to anyone who is harbouring Dezi Freeman.’
He said that a surrender plan is also available for anyone harbouring or assisting Mr Freeman.
‘People know the whereabouts of the person who has killed two cops,’ he says.
‘People have chosen for whatever reason, not to come forward.
‘Take up that offer, by whichever means you like, whether it be triple-0 or otherwise.
‘We will formulate a surrender plan.’
Superintendent Brett Kahan said people are helping Dezi Freeman evade capture
A police chopper searches for Freeman
Police remain in touch with Freeman’s wife, Amalia, but Supt. Kahan said she was not necessarily helping with the inquiry.
‘It’s two different things to be speaking with police and co-operating with police,’ he said.
When pressed, Supt. Kahan repeated ‘it’s two different things’.
His comments come after Amalia made a public appeal for her husband to surrender.
Through her lawyers on Sunday she begged him to lay down his weapons and offered her condolences to the families of the slain officers.
‘We echo the requests of the Victoria Police for the swift and safe conclusion of this tragedy,’ Ms Freeman said.
‘I lend my full support to Victoria Police in their search for my husband and will co-operate with Victoria Police in any way that I can.
‘Please Dezi, if you see or hear this, call 000 and arrange a surrender plan with the police.’
On Saturday, Victoria Police confirmed they had moved their forward command post from Feathertop Winery outside Porepunkah to a government office in the town of Ovens, about 12km away.
‘The new site is a fit-for-purpose facility and will best support Victoria Police’s operational activity moving forward,’ the statement said.
‘We would like to reassure the community that police are not leaving the area.’
The two fallen officers will be farewelled with full police honours at Melbourne’s Victoria Police Academy in Glen Waverley.
Senior Constable De Waart’s service will be held on September 5. Detective Thompson will be laid to rest on September 8.
A third officer shot in the thigh remains in hospital.