His mother chose a short, heartbreaking adieu, which she asked to be read on her behalf.
Her son, she said, would live on in “the divine, in the ether”.
The guard of honour outside the Police Academy in Glen Waverley.Credit: Eddie Jim
“He will live among us held by Mother Nature,” she said. “Like an unexpected, pure, white butterfly hovering in the sky.”
Yes, and he would continue “walking among us as a soft breeze [brushing] upon our cheek”.
Vadim’s brother Sacha reached back to childhood to explain the love and care he knew as the essence of Vadim.
“My brother’s always been my hero, my protector,” he said.
The family leaves the service.Credit: Eddie Jim
“When I was just a baby and I couldn’t really talk yet, my brother was the only one that could understand me, so he would translate everything for my parents, so they knew what I wanted.
“Every morning, the first thing my brother did is he would get every stuffed animal he could find, and put it in my crib, and then he would hop in the crib with me, just because he knew that would make me happy.
“And that’s all my brother ever wanted to do; it was to make people happy, bringing people love.
“When we were growing up, my brother and I, we did everything together. We were on the same badminton team, we were on the same tennis team, we played in the same basketball team, same football team. We went skateboarding together. We went snowboarding together.
Chief Commissioner Mike Bush salutes the coffin.Credit: Eddie Jim
“And to be honest, I’m not even sure he liked any of those sports. He just did it to be with me so he could continue keeping me safe.
“He was my very own superhero. He was my Batman. Then, when we grew up and I didn’t need this protecting any more, my brother found 23,000 new brothers and sisters in blue to keep protecting, and he found a way to continue helping everyone he could.”
Vadim de Waart-Hottart wasn’t simply Batman to his brother. The slain police officer chose Batman as his enduring favourite character because, he explained to friends, the comic book superhero’s task was to help save everyone.
A small Batman statue sat on a table on the altar of the Police Academy chapel during the funeral, central to Vadim’s cherished effects.
Photographs and personal belongings of de Waart-Hottart’s on display in the chapel.Credit: AAPIMAGE
A friend and colleague, Constable Tali Walker-Davidson, remembered a young man who loved adrenaline, adventure and travel, but who also valued stillness and reflection. When he took a room in her house, she’d often find him in the backyard reading a book, listening to music or doing yoga and meditating.
She remembered, too, the police officer who radiated large physical presence, calm control and quiet confidence during long days facing protesters in the streets during the COVID demonstrations, and earlier “protecting his colleagues with his shield during the anti-war protests at the Exhibition Centre during the Military Expo”.
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She spoke of de Waart-Hottart unquestioningly volunteering to back up a colleague (“that was typical of him, always ready to support his team”) to arrest a violent carjacker and a ram-raider accomplice at St Kilda at 4.15 in the morning, one of whom lunged at him with a screwdriver.
Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush said the day of Vadim’s death was a “shocking and tragic day” for the state, for the Victoria Police and for the families of two officers who lost their lives and a third who suffered serious injury.
The commissioner spoke of the three medals awarded to de Waart-Hottart, including the Victoria Police Star, awarded to officers who lost their lives or were seriously injured in the line of duty.
He said that everyone who had spoken of the man behind the uniform said he acted with compassion, kindness and empathy – a connector of people, an adventurer, a traveller and a sportsman who loved life.
Outside, as four police horses lined up and the endless line of police prepared their guard of honour, a lone piper played by the coffin from the academy’s chapel and the sun shone in a cloudless sky.
It spoke to Vadim’s brother, Sacha.
“My brother was just this ray of sunshine that he brought to everyone every day,” he said. “Since I learned of his passing, it’s been raining every day, and today it’s beautiful sunshine. Almost no clouds in the sky, which fits my brother’s personality.
“There were no clouds in his: he never had a bad force.
“I don’t think that in my 32 years with him, I’d have actually heard him say something bad about someone. I really want you to remember him for the way he lived and not for the way he died.
“I want you to think of him every time you see a perfect blue ocean, or a perfect blue sky like we have today that mimics the colour of his perfect blue eyes.
“I want you to think of him every time you see a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day, or when you see a rainbow.”
The ranks of blue will gather again on Monday for the funeral of 59-year-old Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson, who also died in the Porepunkah shooting.
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