Dezi Freeman’s final moments to be revealed in inquest
William Ton |
The final moments of fugitive Dezi Freeman’s life before he was shot dead by police will be aired in minute detail for a coroner to determine the circumstances around his death.
The 56-year-old was fatally shot by police on a remote property in Thologolong, near Walwa on the Victoria-NSW border, on Monday after a months-long manhunt.
As one of the nation’s largest searches concludes, a coroner will take over the investigation and look into the circumstances surrounding the seven-month period.
Freeman was wanted over the fatal shootings of Neal Thompson and Vadim de Waart-Hottart, who were among a team of officers serving a warrant at his Porepunkah home in late August.
The coroner will examine all three deaths in detail to establish who died, how they died and what could be done to prevent future deaths, Queensland University of Technology forensic criminologist Claire Ferguson said.
As part of that process, a brief of evidence will be compiled, witnesses will be called to give evidence and the judicial official will also study the final moments of Freeman’s life and the police decision to shoot him.
“They’ll have a full reconstruction of what actually occurred, and that might be establishing people’s exact positioning in the scene and forensic evidence,” Dr Ferguson told AAP.
The highly technological 3D reconstruction would be aided with statements from those who shot Freeman, what he was doing, what he looked like, what firearms he had and the decision-making process around shooting him.
Minute details, including the trajectory of how he was shot and the specific aid rendered after the fact will also be described to allow the coroner a sense of what was happening at the scene.
“They will be doing this investigation in as much detail as possible, and then the coroner will make recommendations based on that,” Dr Ferguson said.
Footage showed Freeman wrapped in a blanket when he emerged from the shipping container, which appeared to be a makeshift campsite, before pulling a gun from underneath and pointing it at police, it was revealed.
It is not known if he had fired the gun before multiple officers discharged their weapons.
Whether that video will ever see the light of day 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.
“It’s not beyond the realm for the coroner to think this footage will show police did all they could and to make sure that there’s no conspiracy theories that Freeman was unlawfully shot,” he said.
Child sexual abuse allegations levelled against Freeman will be investigated to inform the coroner on the police’s initial decision to attend his property, but a finding of guilt won’t be made, Dr Goldsworthy said.
For the families of the police officers and also Freeman’s, they will get a clear outline on what occurred through the coronial process.
“This will be the final stage of closure for them when the coroner holds the inquest and delivers a finding,” Dr Goldsworthy said.
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AAP