Dezi Freeman Trial: Court Hears Details of Fatal Police Shooting

The court heard Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson lifted himself up into the opening of the window and placed his feet inside the bus.

Senior Constable Vadim De Waart-Hottart was standing behind him along with another officer.

As his body came through the window, Dezi Freeman fired a shotgun towards him, hitting Detective Leading Senior Constable Thompson in the side of the face and neck.

As Senior Constable Vadim De Waart-Hottart turned to run, Freeman fired a second time and hit him in the head.

Body worn cameras from police officers at the scene capture Dezi Freeman repeatedly saying:

I had no choice, I had no choice.

The court heard Dezi Freeman refused to come out of the bus after this exchange, and after being handed the search warrant, told police he would be appealing it in the Supreme Court.

About 34 minutes had passed at this point since police first made contact with Freeman.

Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson had been attempting to open the perspex window on the top half of the bus door, and by then successfully removed the window from the bus door completely.

He has this exchange with Amalia Freeman:

Amalia Freeman: Alright we are coming out. Okay we’re coming out.

Neal Thompson: Tell me where the door opens?

Amalia Freeman: No, we’re coming out, drop it, get bubba

Officers attempted to show a copy of the search warrant through a window of the bus, but Dezi Freeman yelled the warrant was not valid.

When told the warrant was investigating the alleged sexual assault of a child, he replied:

Oh, for f** sake. What bulls***"

The three police members who drove around the property then arrived.

The following exchange then occurred, as police attempted ty breach the door.

Police officer: We want to talk to you, will you open the door?

Amalia Freeman: Yes

Dezi Freeman: Yes I will bloody talk to you. We’ll go from there. Stop your goons from breaking the door

During the standoff, Dezi Freeman told police they "could go to hell, that the search was illegal and that he did not recognise their law and that they were breaking all of them" and refused to come out.

Police then called a divisional supervisor, who gave them permission to force their way into the bus.

The court heard the five police members approached the converted bus/caravan, and saw Amalia Freeman turn and walk into the structure.

The police then knocked on the locked door to the shelter, asking Freeman to leave the bus so they could explain the search warrant to him.

Police could see both Dezi and Amalia Freeman through the window of the bus, and hear a young child inside.

The property owner Andrew Swift then arrived, told police they were trespassing and began filming on his mobile phone.

Images obtained by the Daily Mail following the shooting appears to show the stand-off occurring.

Last month, the ABC revealed details about the child sexual assault allegations levied against Freeman.

Police believed he was on the verge of having his secret stash of child abuse material discovered he killed the two officers and seriously injured a third.

Freeman's devices were later found to contain hundreds of files containing child abuse material.

You can read the exclusive report by the ABC's Danny Tran and Antonia O'Flaherty here:

The entirety of the police operation on the day of the shooting, August 26, 2025, was detailed to the court this morning by Assisting Counsel Lindsay Spence.

Ten police officers headed to Rayner Track in Porepunkah with the purpose of searching for and seizing electronic devices, which would be searched for child abuse material.

Freeman was living with his wife and two of his children in a converted bus/caravan on the north-east corner of the property.

The police officers drove in a convoy to the property, and found it was locked behind an electric powered gate.

The group then split up, with five continuing on foot, three driving to a neighbouring property to get around the gate, and two police officers remaining behind.

In August 2025, Neal Thompson and Vadim de Waart-Hottart were part of a contingent of 10 officers who arrived at the Porepunkah property, including members of the Wangaratta Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigation Team.

They were there to serve a warrant on Freeman in relation to an alleged sexual assault involving a child under the age of 16 years old and an attempt to involve a child in the production of child abuse material.

After the confrontation in which Freeman shot the officers, he disappeared into the Mount Buffalo National Park behind his home — which was a converted bus with an annex.

Freeman then led police on one of the nation's largest manhunts until he was located in March at a property in Thologolong, on the border with NSW, about 150 kilometres north-east of Porepunkah, after 215 days on the run.

He was shot dead during the attempt to arrest him.

Good afternoon,

The ABC is in court today for the directions hearing into the deaths of Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim De Waart-Hottart.

The Victoria Police officers were shot dead by self-proclaimed sovereign citizen Dezi Freeman at a property in Porepunkah in north-east Victoria in August 2025.

Today's directions hearings are focusing on procedural matters, but we've gained more insight into what exactly happened at Freeman's caravan that day.