{"id":443926,"date":"2026-05-25T05:27:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T05:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/443926\/"},"modified":"2026-05-25T05:27:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T05:27:12","slug":"dezi-freemans-final-words-to-dying-victoria-police-officer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/443926\/","title":{"rendered":"Dezi Freeman’s final words to dying Victoria police officer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Double police killer Dezi Freeman told a fatally wounded officer to die in hell moments before shooting him again.<\/p>\n

Fresh details into the killings of Senior Constable Vadmin de Waart-Hottart and Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson in August 2025 at Freeman’s property in Victoria’s High Country were detailed in a Coroners Court directions hearing on Monday morning.<\/p>\n

Freeman was captured on police bodycam footage shortly after the incident yelling he had no choice but to carry out the shooting, counsel assisting Lindsay Spence said in his opening summary.<\/p>\n

Spence described the confrontation between the officers and Freeman, who was inside a bus, when a search warrant was served at Porepunkah, 310km northwest of Melbourne.<\/p>\n

He revealed officers had executed the warrant after receiving disclosure of an alleged sexual assault involving a child, as well as an attempt to involve a child in the production of child abuse material.<\/p>\n

“The 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,” he told the court. <\/p>\n

\"Where<\/p>\n

Where to get help for sexual violence. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

Police had been attempting to arrest Freeman at the property, where he was living in a converted bus with his family, including his wife, Mali.<\/p>\n

During the incident, which began at 9.50am, five officers had knocked at the door, before Freeman had yelled and refused to come out, saying the police “could go to hell”, Spence said.<\/p>\n

Officers called for permission to force entry which was granted, although negotiations continued.<\/p>\n

Freeman was eventually shown a copy of the search warrant, where he described as “bulls**t”. <\/p>\n

The court heard an officer climbed onto the bus roof but was unable to gain access, before Freeman said he was coming out.<\/p>\n

After failing to exit, Thompson lifted himself through a window to gain access to the bus, but as his feet touched the ground, he was shot.<\/p>\n

He suffered a gunshot wound to the face and neck, and collapsed immediately.<\/p>\n

A second officer, standing near Thompson, yelled “gun” and ran, activating a duress alarm, the court heard.<\/p>\n

Freeman then shot de Waart-Hottart as the other officers ran and sought cover behind a shipping container.<\/p>\n

“I had no choice,” Freeman said.<\/p>\n

The court heard Freeman returned to the bus after the shooting and swore over the bodies of both fallen officers.<\/p>\n

“F***ing scum, die in hell,” he yelled at police before firing de Waart-Hottart’s firearm at Thompson again.<\/p>\n

\"Detective<\/p>\n

Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson, left, and Senior Constable Vadim De Waart-Hottart. (Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n

Freeman then stepped out of the bus with two guns and fired at a third officer, injuring them.<\/p>\n

“He was last sighted running down the hill towards the river,” Spence told the court. <\/p>\n

Freeman later sent a message to his wife.<\/p>\n

“Get a mile away and keep going. See you in heaven, love,” he texted.<\/p>\n

Freeman led police on one of the nation’s largest manhunts, which ended after he died in a hail of police bullets on a remote property in Thologolong, near Walwa on the Victoria-NSW border on March 30.<\/p>\n

Freeman was wanted over the fatal shooting of two Victorian police officers seven months ago. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

State Coroner Liberty Sanger held a directions hearings for the cases of the police officers on Monday, before she will turn her attention to Freeman’s case in the afternoon.<\/p>\n

Family and supporters of the slain police officers arrived in court on Monday, including Thompson’s sisters, Dianne Thompson and Lois Kirk. <\/p>\n

Loved ones of de Waart-Hottart watched the proceedings via video link from Belgium.<\/p>\n

Police association secretary Wayne Gatt and Detective Acting Inspector Nigel L’Estrange from the homicide squad, also attended. <\/p>\n

Speculation has been rife over how Freeman came to be in Thologolong, about 150km from Porepunkah, where he fatally shot the officers.<\/p>\n

Monday’s directions hearing into the cases of the police officers wrapped up within an hour and was adjourned to an unfixed date while a coronial brief is delivered.<\/p>\n

The inquest could be scheduled for March 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Double police killer Dezi Freeman told a fatally wounded officer to die in hell moments before shooting him…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":443927,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[85,67,42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-443926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-australia","tag-crime-and-justice","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=443926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443926\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/443927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}