Freeman, also known as Desmond Filby, was shot dead by police in March, after being discovered at makeshift campsite about 150km away.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 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,\u201d he told the court.<\/p>\n
Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIt was also intended that the person of interest was to be arrested and subsequently interviewed.\u201d<\/p>\n The two killed officers were among a team of police serving a warrant at his home at Porepunkah, 310km north-west of Melbourne.<\/p>\n After Freeman killed Thompson and De Waart-Hottart, he led police on one of the nation\u2019s largest manhunts.<\/p>\n The seven-month search for the 56-year-old ended when he died<\/a> after being shot by police on a remote property in Thologolong<\/a>, near Walwa on the Victoria-NSW border, on 30 March.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s death in the afternoon.<\/p>\n The dates and the scope of the inquests \u2013 and decisions on who would give evidence \u2013 were expected to be set on Monday.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ll have a full reconstruction of what actually occurred, and that might be establishing people\u2019s exact positioning in the scenes and forensic evidence,\u201d Ferguson said.<\/p>\n Speculation has been rife over how Freeman came to be in Thologolong, about 150km from the Porepunkah site where he fatally shot the officers.<\/p>\n That could also form part of the investigation.<\/p>\n TimelineThe Porepunkah shooting and Dezi Freeman manhuntShow<\/p>\n 26 August 2025<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 27 August 2025<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 28 August 2025<\/p>\n Officers from the Australian federal police\u2019s 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 \u201cpending further inquiries\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n 6 September 2025<\/p>\n Police announce \u201cup to $1m\u201d reward for information on Dezi Freeman, the largest ever offered in Victoria for an arrest, and warn public not to go looking for the \u201chigh-risk\u201d fugitive.\u00a0<\/p>\n 12 September 2025<\/p>\n More than 125 specialist officers conduct the country\u2019s \u201clargest ever tactical policing operation\u201d in the inhospitable terrain around Freeman\u2019s property, including officers seconded from all Australian states and New Zealand.\u00a0<\/p>\n 14 September 2025<\/p>\n Authorities lift travel restrictions in the Porepunkah area to \u201callow the community to return to a state of normality\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n 5 November 2025<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 2 February 2026<\/p>\n 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\u00a0escaped the area and had survived without help.\u00a0<\/p>\n 13 March 2026<\/p>\n Victoria police say they do not have sufficient evidence to proceed with charges against three people (including Freeman\u2019s wife) as part of the broader investigation into the fatal Porepunkah police shootings.<\/p>\n 30 March 2026<\/p>\n Police shoot Freeman dead after a seven-month manhunt. <\/p>\n Thank you for your feedback.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n It was not known if he had fired the gun before multiple officers shot him dead, but the state\u2019s police commissioner, Mike Bush, has maintained the shooting was justified.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline<\/a> on 1800 55 1800; adult survivors can seek help at Blue Knot Foundation<\/a> on 1300 657 380. In the UK, the NSPCC<\/a> offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac<\/a>) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331. In the US, call or text the Childhelp<\/a> abuse hotline on 800-422-4453. Other sources of help can be found at Child Helpline International<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The alleged sexual assault of a child has been revealed as the reason for a search warrant against…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":692763,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-692762","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\/692762","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=692762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692762\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/692763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=692762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=692762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=692762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Map](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Dezi_Freeman_death_map___loop--e908107d-cec6-4de9-beb5-d5153bcbd667-1.0.0000000.jpg\")
Map shows distance Freeman fled<\/p>\n