{"id":574715,"date":"2026-03-30T18:49:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T18:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/574715\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T18:49:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T18:49:12","slug":"police-vow-to-track-down-people-who-helped-fugitive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/574715\/","title":{"rendered":"Police vow to track down people who helped fugitive"},"content":{"rendered":"

March 30, 2026 \u2014 7:30pm<\/p>\n

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Police have vowed to continue chasing the people who helped Dezi Freeman hide from the law after the dangerous killer was shot dead in an early morning raid on a rural property.<\/p>\n

Chief Commissioner Mike Bush confirmed that police were investigating whether Freeman was being assisted<\/a> or harboured by supporters hours after Freeman was gunned down at a property in Thologolong in north-east Victoria.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe remote property in Thologolong, where Dezi Freeman was shot dead by police.Justin McManus<\/p>\n

Bush said it was likely that Freeman had help during the seven months he was on the run after he shot dead two police officers who were attempting to serve a warrant on him at a property in Porepunkah.<\/p>\n

The property where Freeman was found<\/a> is nearly 200 kilometres from where he was last seen by authorities in Porepunkah in August last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be very difficult for him to get where he was without assistance,\u201d Bush said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will be speaking to anyone we suspect has assisted him in avoiding detection and arrest.\u201d<\/p>\n

All people connected to the sprawling rural property in Walwa will be questioned by police about any connections to Freeman.<\/p>\n

\"VictoriaVictoria Police Commissioner Mike Bush speaks to media in northern Victoria on Monday afternoon.Justin McManus<\/p>\n

Bush said nobody else was present at the property when police confronted Freeman this morning, but any person connected to it would \u201cform part of ongoing investigation\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added that while Freeman had been the only person at the property for at least 24 hours before the shooting but \u201cthat doesn\u2019t mean they haven\u2019t been in the past\u201d.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Police<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201c[It is] very important for us to understand how long he\u2019s been here and who else was complicit in getting him here, and then caring for him or providing him with food and other things to this point,\u201d Bush said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will be speaking to anyone we suspect has assisted him to avoid detection and arrest.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said that those who were found to be complicit in helping Freeman escape or harbouring him would be held to account.<\/p>\n

Police Association of Victoria secretary Wayne Gatt also issued a warning to anyone who might have harboured Dezi Freeman during his time on the run.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur members will chase every rabbit down every burrow,\u201d Gatt told reporters at a press conference in Wodonga.<\/p>\n

Criminal law specialist Melinda Walker said that in a case such as this, any charges would fall under section 325 of the state\u2019s Crimes Act.<\/p>\n

This includes cases in which a person has committed a serious indictable offence<\/a> and another person, who knows or believes them to be guilty of this \u201cprincipal offence\u201d,<\/a> acts with the purpose of assisting with their escape from authorities or impeding their apprehension, prosecution, conviction or punishment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere the principal offence is the most serious offence, being life imprisonment, then that person [who assists them] could be liable to a penalty of a maximum of 20 years if they are found guilty,\u201d Walker said.<\/p>\n

\"AA huge amount of police resources have been dedicated to the search for Dezi Freeman. Justin McManus<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Victoria Police said it was not intending to charge the wife of Freeman with obstructing a police investigation into the fatal shooting of two police officers at Porepunkah, after the Office of Public Prosecutions found there was insufficient evidence to support a conviction.<\/p>\n

At the time, police confirmed that they had interviewed Amalia Freeman, 42, and a 56-year-old man from Porepunkah in relation to the offence of \u201cindictable obstruction of police\u201d by detectives from Taskforce Summit, but the brief of evidence had not been authorised by prosecutors.<\/p>\n

A police spokeswoman said the briefs were independently reviewed, which also determined a prosecution was unlikely.<\/p>\n

A third person had been interviewed regarding an attempted theft but would also avoid charges, according to the spokeswoman, who said any further information received by detectives involved in the case would be \u201cthoroughly assessed and acted on as appropriate\u201d.<\/p>\n

Immediately after Freeman\u2019s disappearance, police repeatedly warned sympathisers not to help the fugitive.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Superintendent Brett Kahan used a press conference to issue a blunt message.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople know the whereabouts of the person who has killed two cops,\u201d Kahan said. \u201cPeople have chosen, for whatever reason, not to come forward. I\u2019m taking this time to appeal to you to come forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are committing an extremely serious crime by harbouring or assisting in the escape of Dezi Freeman.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kahan said police believed Freeman, a self-proclaimed \u201csovereign citizen\u201d who changed his surname from Filby, had a wide support network.<\/p>\n

He said that the offer of a surrender plan made to Freeman immediately after the murders would be extended to any potential accomplices.<\/p>\n

\u201cTake up that offer, by whichever means you like, whether it be [calling] triple zero or otherwise,\u201d he said. \u201cWe will formulate a surrender plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"AngusAngus Delaney<\/a> is a reporter at The Age. Email him at angus.delaney@theage.com.au or contact him securely on Signal at angusdelaney.31Connect via email<\/a>.\"RachaelRachael Ward<\/a> is a journalist in the City team at The Age. Contact her at rachael.ward@theage.com.auConnect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"March 30, 2026 \u2014 7:30pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":574716,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-574715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=574715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/574716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}