Police Operation Details in Porepunkah Shooting Case
Quick Look
- Assisting Counsel Lindsay Spence detailed a police operation on August 26, 2025, where officers sought electronic devices for child abuse material at a Porepunkah property.
- The suspect, Freeman, later shot officers and fled into Mount Buffalo National Park, leading to a 215-day manhunt before he was apprehended and killed in March.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
On August 26, 2025, a police operation to search for child abuse material at a Porepunkah property led to a confrontation where Freeman shot officers. He then fled, initiating a lengthy manhunt.
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 werethere 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.
Open Questions
- What specific electronic devices were sought?
- What was the exact nature of the alleged sexual assault?
- What led to the confrontation where officers were shot?
- What were the circumstances of Freeman's apprehension and death?
