Brett Forte inquest live updates: ‘I heard the screaming over the radio’

Sergeant Ian Douglas, the police communications officer co-ordinating the pursuit of Ricky Maddison, says the wanted man clapped out the window of his brother’s ute during the police chase.

“At one point, he had a little clap out the window at police,” he tells the inquest during the closing stages of his testimony.

Sergeant Ian Douglas (left) leaves Toowoomba Magistrates Court on Thursday afternoon.Credit: Toby Crockford

Sergeant Douglas is also pressed further on his decision to allow the chase to continue. He says he was waiting for Maddison to do something dangerous, but it simply did not happen.

“There were no indicators to stop the pursuit … it was just a ‘fail to stop’ basically,” he says.

“The imminent need to apprehend him was there and the dangerous driving was not.”

At one point during the chase, there was a discussion between Sergeant Douglas and a pursuing crew about Maddison’s driving, to which the response was: “He’s still doing 60km/h, he just hasn’t pulled over.”

Sergeant Douglas is excused and was the final witness for today, so the inquest adjourns.

Watch out for the wrap of today’s testimonies.

The communications officer who was in charge of the pursuit of wanted gunman Ricky Maddison says he generally doesn’t like pursuits because of the stress and danger.

Maddison killed Senior Constable Forte near Gatton, west of Brisbane. when he ambushed pursuing police officers and unleashed a hail of automatic gunfire on Senior Constable Forte’s vehicle.

The police forward command post during the 20-hour siege involving gunman Ricky Maddison.Credit: Jorge Branco

Sergeant Ian Douglas is being questioned by David Funch, acting for widow Susan Forte, over what factors underpinned his decision to allow the pursuit to continue.

“I don’t like pursuits generally … the stress it causes and the danger,” Sergeant Douglas says.

“He [Maddison] was just failing to stop, he wasn’t doing anything dangerous.”

Mr Funch asks Sergeant Douglas if he would have continued the pursuit if Sergeant Peter Jenkins hadn’t come into the room and told him about Maddison’s history and the hunt for him.

Sergeant Douglas says Sergeant Jenkins’ information tipped the scales in terms of leaning towards continuing the pursuit of Maddison.

“If I didn’t have the information that he [Maddison] was wanted for torture and had eluded police, then I would have thought: ‘Where is the imminent need [to pursue]?’ ” Sergeant Douglas says.

Sergeant Douglas concedes Sergeant Jenkins coming into the communications room was not normal practice” and he believes it would be “discouraged now”.

However, Sergeant Douglas agrees he would have called off the pursuit if it had become dangerous, regardless of whether Sergeant Jenkins was standing next to him.

“As soon as I heard the screaming over the radio, I had something happen to me that had never happened to me before, I lost hearing in my ears, I could just hear my heart beating in my chest. It was extremely stressful.”

Sergeant Ian Douglas, the communications officer who was in charge of the pursuit of wanted gunman Ricky Maddison, recounts the fatal chase that ended in Senior Constable Brett Forte’s death.

Flowers are left as a memorial for slain officer Senior Constable Brett Forte at Toowoomba police station.Credit: Jorge Branco

He says he had just started his shift as communications coordinator on May 29, 2017, when Senior Sergeant Scott Stahlhut, the officer-in-charge of Toowoomba Tactical Crime Squad, called.

“I don’t usually get a call from [Senior Sergeant Stahlhut] at the start of my shift … he said we had someone in a phone box who is wanted for serious offences and we need to get him,” Sergeant Douglas says.

“He asked me to organise crews to go out and search phone boxes and they were trying to keep him on the phone.”

At 1.54pm, Maddison’s Nissan Navara ute, which was actually his brother’s, was spotted on Mary Street in Toowoomba and the chase was on.

Regarding what Sergeant Peter Jenkins told him in the police communications room, Sergeant Douglas tells the inquest he sees no problem with what was said to him.

In his statement in the immediate aftermath of Senior Constable Forte’s death, Sergeant Douglas said Sergeant Jenkins told him: “He [Maddison] is dangerous, he’s wanted for torture, he’s wanted for really serious offences, we need to get him.”

Sergeant Douglas tells the inquest regarding Sergeant Jenkins’ comments: “I see no problem with him coming in and telling me those things, that is how the police service works, you get information from trusted sources … Sergeant Jenkins was reliable intel for me.”

“That’s standard talk: ‘We need to get this offender’.”

Sergeant Peter Jenkins, a senior Toowoomba officer when Senior Constable Brett Forte died, “can’t remember” receiving an email detailing reports of automatic gunfire in the area days before the tragedy.

He told the inquest earlier that he was not aware until after Senior Constable Brett Forte’s death that residents near Wallers Road, where gunman Ricky Maddison was hiding, had reported hearing automatic gunfire in the weeks prior to the showdown.

Retired Sergeant Peter Jenkins (right) leaves Toowoomba Magistrates Court on Thursday afternoon.Credit: Toby Crockford

But David Funch, representing widow Susan Forte, produces an email sent by Senior Constable Andre Thaler at 7.01pm on May 22, 2017 to Sergeant Jenkins and other Toowoomba officers. Senior Constable Forte was gunned down seven days after the email was sent.

“The email contains details of his [Senior Constable Thaler’s] meeting with Adam Byatt [Maddison’s friend] on Wallers Road on May 18 and details of reports of automatic gunfire in that area in the past 6-8 weeks,” Mr Funch says.

Sergeant Jenkins responds: “I didn’t realise I had received that email.”

Mr Funch then presses Sergeant Jenkins on whether he told the communications controller, Sergeant Ian Douglas, about the automatic gunfire reports during the police pursuit of Maddison.

“No, because I didn’t know where they were going and I can’t remember receiving that email ... I never even knew where Wallers Road was, we had to look it up on GPS on the way there [on the day Senior Constable Forte was killed] to find out where to go,” Sergeant Jenkins says.

Sergeant Peter Jenkins, a senior Toowoomba officer when Senior Constable Brett Forte died, says claims that Tactical Crime Squad officers (including Senior Constable Brett Forte) were not told about Tactical Action Team investigations are “a lie” and he denies culture issues within his station.

Sergeant Jenkins, who has since retired, says he found out about automatic gunfire reports from the Wallers Road area, where Ricky Maddison was hiding, after Senior Constable Forte’s death.

Retired Sergeant Peter Jenkins (right) leaves Toowoomba Magistrates Court on Thursday afternoon.Credit: Toby Crockford

He says he is not aware of alleged bullying and threats towards widow Susan Forte, also a police officer, and the slain officer’s on-duty partner, Senior Constable Catherine Nielsen, after the tragedy.

“I’m not aware of anything like that, in fact, I have always been friends with Cath and Susie,” Sergeant Jenkins says.

“Cath’s told me that she was lied to, but I don’t remember her telling me she was bullied at all.”

And with that, the inquest stops for a one-hour lunch break. Sergeant Jenkins will return to the stand afterwards.

Sergeant Peter Jenkins, a senior Toowoomba police officer when Senior Constable Brett Forte died, describes being in the police communications room listening to the pursuit of wanted gunman Ricky Maddison and when the phrase came over the airwaves “shots fired”.

David Funch, acting for widow Susan Forte, questions why Sergeant Jenkins stayed in the communications room during the chase after telling the police controller about Maddison’s history.

Ricky Maddison was wanted for domestic violence offences when he killed Senior Constable Brett Forte. Credit: Facebook

“These are my people ... in my heart I’m responsible for making sure they’re OK ...,” he says.

“I’m listening to what is happening, not interfering.”

There have been conflicting accounts of what Sergeant Jenkins told the police communications controller, Sergeant Ian Douglas, who was in charge of the pursuit.

Sergeant Douglas claims Sergeant Jenkins told him: “He [Maddison] is dangerous, he’s wanted for torture, he’s wanted for really serious offences, we need to get him.”

Sergeant Jenkins accepts he told Sergeant Douglas about Maddison’s “serious offences and torture” and recalls saying it was Maddison in the Nissan Navara ute.

“But I can’t recall whether I said the rest of it,” Sergeant Jenkins says.

“I was there to provide situational awareness [to Sergeant Douglas] of what was going on with the person they were chasing and the fact that he was wanted.”

The officer who spoke to Ricky Maddison on the phone on the day the gunman killed Senior Constable Brett Forte says he deliberately enraged the wanted man.

Maddison called the Toowoomba police station hours before he murdered Senior Constable Forte, and Sergeant Peter Jenkins spoke to him for a lengthy period.

Ricky Maddison was wanted for domestic violence offences when he killed Senior Constable Brett Forte.

While this was happening, police patrols were scouring local phone boxes searching for Maddison.

“I needed to keep him talking, he would start to get angry and I would try to encourage that and you could see it was starting to annoy him and then I would calm him down,” Sergeant Jenkins says.

“It sounded like he was hitting the phone on the phone box. Any time I spoke about … the previous offences he went to court for, he became quite agitated.

“He would have just hung up if he didn’t get what he wanted … he wanted to speak.”

Sergeant Jenkins says he had encountered Maddison previously during traffic stops and while executing search warrants and described him as “arrogant” and “verbally aggressive” towards police.

Sergeant Dan Curtain, a Toowoomba police officer who served with the late Senior Constable Brett Forte, tells the inquest he and other officers searching for wanted gunman Ricky Maddison carried rifles.

Sergeant Curtain says it is not unusual for Toowoomba police to be so armed.

Sergeant Dan Curtain (right) leaves Toowoomba Magistrates Court on Thursday morning.Credit: Toby Crockford

“We carried the rifle because of intelligence we had in relation to Maddison discharging the firearm [at his ex-partner’s home recently],” he says.

David Funch, representing widow Susan Forte, asks Sergeant Curtain about the reports of automatic gunfire heard from the Lockyer National Park.

“I never made the link between the automatic gunfire reports and Maddison,” he says.

Sergeant Curtain says he is not aware of police units in Toowoomba being referred to as the “A team”, “B Team” or “koalas”.

He also says he is not aware of any bullying or threats made towards Mrs Forte, also a police officer, and the slain officer’s on-duty partner, Senior Constable Catherine Nielsen, after the 2017 tragedy.

Yesterday, Senior Constable Brett Forte’s boss was accused of running a “dysfunctional, toxic and misogynist culture” within his unit and, after the death of one of his own, he allegedly threatened and bullied the slain officer’s widow and on-duty partner.

Senior Sergeant Scott Stahlhut denied the accusations made against him by David Funch, the lawyer acting for widow Susan Forte, and ultimately said he did not make any failures that contributed to the death of his officer on May 29, 2017.

Senior Sergeant Scott Stahlhut (right) leaves Toowoomba Magistrates Court on Wednesday afternoon.Credit: Toby Crockford

Senior Sergeant Stahlhut was grilled over alleged comments made to Mrs Forte, also a police officer, and the slain officer’s on-duty partner, Senior Constable Catherine Nielsen, after the 2017 tragedy.

Full story here.

Yesterday, the senior officer in charge of the police service’s tactical crime squad for the Darling Downs region said he wanted the police system upgraded to allow for more detail to be added when flagging potentially dangerous offenders.

Senior Sergeant Scott Stahlhut, who was Senior Constable Brett Forte’s boss, wanted a scale to be introduced so officers can flag just how dangerous or violent the particular offender is.

“If there’s flags for those extreme persons who may ultimately get missed as being a greater risk, than say someone who was violent with a couple of police downtown one time they were intoxicated,” he said.

Senior Sergeant Stahlhut said he also endorsed the idea of widely-distributed personalised ballistic vests for officers.

Yesterday’s blog in full here.