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Dezi Freeman hurled abuse at slain police officers and fired multiple shots at other police after killing Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart at Porepunkah, a court has heard.

A directions hearing at the Coroners Court of Victoria on Monday into the inquest of the deaths of the police officers revealed extensive details of the Porepunkah shooting on 26 August 2025.

The court heard Wangaratta police had obtained information of an alleged sexual assault of a child under 16-years-old and the alleged possession of child abuse material in June 2025.

A search warrant was obtained to attend Freeman’s makeshift Rayner Track home to seize his devices, arrest him and to interview him.

Ten members from the Wangaratta Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigation Team, Wangaratta Criminal Investigation Unit and Bright uniform police convened at Bright Police Station before making their way to the Porepunkah property at 9:50am.

Five of the officers were first to enter on foot, after being confronted by a locked gate upon arrival.

Freeman, his wife Mali and one of their children were inside a bus at the north east corner of the property while another of the couple’s children was asleep in a nearby caravan.

Police negotiated with Freeman and his wife for 34 minutes, but the pair refused to let police in.

Freeman told police to go to hell, that he didn’t recognise their law and rebutted the allegations against him.

The property owner entered the annexe of the bus and told officers they were trespassing.

At one point Freeman and his wife gave permission for police to enter, but never unlocked or opened the front door.

After gaining permission from the divisional supervisor to force entry, police tried various means to break-in and climbed the roof, but were unsuccessful.

Det Led Sen Const Thompson removed a side window of the bus and told Mali to move back, which she refused.

Freeman had moved to the northern side of the bus out of police sight.

Det Led Sen Const Thompson went through the window feet first, and was shot by Freeman with a shotgun in the face and neck.

A police officer behind Det Led Sen Const Thompson yelled “gun” and ran.

Sen Const de Waart-Hottart was then shot in the head as he attempted to flee.

Remaining police officers took cover behind a white van, a shed and a shipping container.

“I had no choice,” Freeman said.

Mali and her young child exited the bus and went towards the river as an emergency alarm was raised.

Freeman was heard yelling abuse at the bodies of the police officers and shot Det Led Sen Const Thompson a second time with the handgun of Sen Const de Waart-Hottart.

“Die in f***ing hell…. you scum,” he said.

Further abuse towards the police officers were withheld in court, out of respect for the grieving families.

Two shots were fired at Freeman by police, but missed, as Freeman reloaded the shotgun.

He fired towards the white van, where flying glass shattered by the gunfire cut an officer’s face and neck.

He went towards the shed where he repeatedly tried to fire at another police officer, but the shotgun failed to discharge.

It eventually did, narrowly missing the officer.

He took another shot towards police, hitting a third officer and causing serious lower body injuries.

He shot at three other police members, who returned fire.

Freeman was last seen running into bushland towards the river with the shotgun and police handgun.

Freeman then sent a text to his wife.

“Get mile away and keep going… see you in heaven, love,” it read.

Police remained at the property as a number of officers rushed to the area to provide assistance.

The property owner assisted police in extracting the third officer from the property and to Myrtleford hospital, where he was airlifted to Melbourne.

The investigations into the murders and attempted murders of two police officers began, along with one of the biggest manhunts in the nation’s history.

The court heard Freeman had his firearms licence suspended and the shotgun used to shoot the police officers had not been registered.

It was unknown how Freeman came into possession of the firearm and it has not been located since the incident.

Families of both Det Led Sen Const Thompson and Sen Const de Waart-Hottart were either present in court or following proceedings online on Monday.

State Coroner Judge Liberty Sanger acknowledged the profound grief of the families of both officers and the entire Victoria Police community.

"I offer my condolences to all of you on the loss of your police colleagues, Neal and Vadim," she said.

Five officers at the scene of the shooting had activated body camera footage while two civilians filmed portions of the incident on their phones.

Freeman would eventually be found at a Thologolong property on 30 March 2026 where he was shot dead by specialist police.

Both inquests into the deaths of the two police officers and Freeman are ongoing.