Tactics used by Victoria Police in the manhunt for alleged cop killer Dezi Freeman called into question – as neighbour who heard the terrifying shots TEN days ago makes stunning revelation
A woman who heard two Victoria Police officers gunned down in an ‘ambush’, sparking a manhunt for Dezi Freeman, has revealed police are yet to speak with her.
The neighbour – who wished to remain anonymous because of her friendship with Freeman’s wife Amalia – told Daily Mail that police closed off her street at Porepunkah in Victoria’s High Country several times to question Freeman’s associates.
However, she said that not once have police reached out to her, despite her relationship with the family and the fact that she was an ear-witness to the alleged murders of Detective Neal Thompson, 59, and Senior Constable Vadim De Waart, 35.
Daily Mail has chosen not to name her road and understands law enforcement had recently questioned one of her neighbours, but did not speak to our source nor her family – despite her being a well-known friend of Amalia, otherwise known as Mali.
‘You think they’d be jumping on things,’ she said. ‘But it’s taken them a week to get here.’
The woman said she ‘heard those shots’ that rang out across the Buckland River region, just outside Porepunkah, around 10.30am last Tuesday.
‘It’s just straight through there,’ she said, pointing in the direction of the bush compound where Freeman lived in a bus with Mali, their second eldest teenage son and a toddler son. ‘And you know what? We had no police knocking on our doors.’
At least 450 Victoria Police officers have been deployed in the manhunt. Freeman, who is ‘heavily armed’, remains on the loose and Chief Commissioner Mike Bush has refused to confirm how much taxpayer money is being spent on the massive search.
A friend of Mali Freeman (pictured above with husband Dezi) revealed she is yet to be spoken to by police despite hearing gunshots when two officers were gunned down
Freeman had been living in this bus with his family when the ambush took place
A massive manhunt is scouring the Victorian High Country around Porepunkah for Freeman
The neighbour said police were on her street on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.
‘One of them, he had the biggest gun. And they (her neighbours) said he was just so scary,’ she said.
‘My husband couldn’t even get home with our (child) because they were stopped at the roundabout. Everything was locked down.
‘There were two (young) girls in one of the houses on this street and their parents couldn’t even go to them.
‘They finally begged and (the police) said, ”Okay, we’ll go with you” and they gave them five minutes to get them.’
She added that she’d heard local residents who couldn’t return to their homes due to police activity were resorting to sleeping in their cars outside of blockade zones.
This is while an alleged killer desperate to evade police remains on the loose.
Commissioner Bush on Wednesday hit back at a journalist during a press conference in nearby Ovens, when she questioned why they hadn’t found Freeman more than a week from when he fled into the alpine wilderness near Mt Buffalo National Park.
Victoria Police Commissioner Mike Bush would not be drawn into estimating the cost of the massive manhunt
Freeman allegedly gunned down Detective Neal Thompson, 59, and Senior Constable Vadim De Waart, 35, at his Porepunkah property in Victoria’s High Country
A reporter asked: ‘This has gone on for nine days. Why is it so difficult?’
‘You’re here, you can see the environment,’ Commissioner Bush snapped.
‘Searching for one person in this terrain is extremely challenging. We have the best people on this task and I have full confidence in them.’
He did not put a figure on the cost of the manhunt – one of the largest in Australian history – but conceded it was a significant amount and that taxpayers expected it.
He added the full cost would be revealed at a later date.
‘We’ve said from day one that this is our number one priority within Victoria Police.
‘At some point we will be able to share the real cost of this operation.’
More than 100 properties have been searched in Porepunkah and nearby towns in the last week.
Porepunkah has gone from obscurity to one of the most talked about towns in the country
Alleged cop killer Dezi Freeman (pictured) has been on the run from police for 10 days
Cops have searched more than 100 properties in the town
But despite hundreds of phone calls and information from the community and some of Freeman’s associates, they are no closer to finding him.
Police still believe that Freeman is being harboured or assisted.
‘We are considering all options in terms of where he may be,’ Bush said.
‘I won’t go into direct intelligence, but our elite team considers every possibility and deploys accordingly.
‘We appeal not just to him but to all his associates: he does not deserve to be protected. He needs to be in custody and held accountable.’
Bush also did not rule out laying charges against Freeman’s wife, who he confirmed was present when her husband allegedly shot dead two officers and wounded a third.
She and her eldest son, 15, were arrested at a nearby Porepunkah property last Thursday night. The pair were interviewed by police and later released, pending further inquiries.
‘She’s been interviewed in relation to criminal matters,’ Bush said.
A neighbour told Daily Mail she lost other friend because she hasn’t turned her back on Mali
He said police were still engaging with her through their investigation and added that she was yet to provide a statement through her lawyers.
‘As has previously been reported, she has been interviewed by Victoria Police … a brief of evidence will be compiled, and she may be charged in due course,’ Detective Superintendent Jason Kelly added.
Ms Freeman had earlier released a statement via her lawyer to express the family’s deep sorrow for the loss of the lives of Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim De Waart.
She added that she and her children respect the important work of Victoria Police and ‘do not hold anti-authority views.’
‘We echo the requests of the Victoria Police for the swift and safe conclusion of this tragedy,’ the statement relased on Sunday read.
‘I lend my full support to Victoria Police in their search for my husband and will co-operate with Victoria Police in any way that I can.
‘Please Dezi, if you see or hear this, call triple-0 and arrange a surrender plan with the police.’
The woman who spoke to Daily Mail on Wednesday evening revealed that she is close with Mali, but did not condone what her husband is alleged to have done.
One retired Victoria Police detective, Charlie Bezzina, warned the cost of the search operation, including the use of helicopters will continue to rise
She agreed to speak with us anonymously to show support for her friend – and added that others in Porepunkhah had turned their backs on her for showing empathy to Mali and her sons.
She knew Mali through church connections, and said Mali was a dedicated volunteer with St Vincent De Paul Society in Bright, and a valued member of the local community.
‘I’d do anything for her,’ she said. ‘I’m not just saying this.
‘She is the most beautiful person. She was struggling for money herself but she would go around the supermarkets and collect food from the food bank.
‘She would make meals for people in need.’
She said she had not been able to speak to Mali since the fatal incident, but that she wanted her to know that ‘I love her and I’m here for her… she doesn’t deserve this’.
She said Mali was a dedicated mother who homeschooled her children and always had her youngest son ‘on her chest’.
‘And if she didn’t have him, he’d be on Dezi’s chest,’ she said.
The woman revealed Mrs Freeman had recently made it known she was keen to move from the bus they were living in within a bush compound on Rayner Track when police came calling.
‘She was looking for a place but the rates are really expensive,’ she said.
The woman also said some people had been living in their cars because of the lockdown
She was at pains to say that despite her two-year friendship with Mali, she did not support what Freeman is alleged to have done, but added there needed to be more mental health support.
She understood Freeman, a self-proclaimed Sovereign Citizen with anti-government views, suffered from PTSD, but did not know why.
‘I don’t know him well, but I did see him in church and he was a quiet man, a family man,’ she said.
‘He was hurting a lot… but you have to help yourself at the end of the day.
‘And when there’s not help and your part of that group (the sovereign citizens movement)… it just gets to you… mentally he is not thinking clearly. I’ve got a heart for everybody.’
