Brett Forte inquest: Police did not link reports of gun fire to Ricky Maddison

A police communications officer says he may have considered calling off the pursuit of gunman Ricky Maddison if he hadn’t been made aware of the serious crimes for which he was wanted.

A communications room supervisor involved in the pursuit of wanted gunman Ricky Maddison says he may have considered calling off the pursuit if he hadn’t been briefed by a senior officer about the crimes he was wanted for.

Sgt Ian Douglas has told the inquest he spoke to Sen Sgt Scott Stahlhut at the beginning of his shift and was told Maddison was on the phone talking to police.

In his role as the communications room supervisor he said he was told to organise crews to search for Maddison.

Gunman Rick Maddison.

“They’ve got someone at a phone box,” he said of the conversation he had.

“We need to get him. It was a standard sort of thing.”

Sgt Douglas said he searched the police computer system QPRIME.

After Maddison was found by police he said Sgt Peter Jenkins came into the room and told him about the offences Maddison was wanted for including torture.

He said it was “standard talk” for police to say words to the effect of “we need to get this offender” and the information helped in his decision-making.

When asked if he was effectively pushed into the pursuit he said he wasn’t.

He said it was his decision to start and continue the pursuit.

“Someone can give you information without you being pushed by it,” Sgt Douglas said.

“You are still using your decision-making process.

“If you think that he twisted my arm, it just didn’t happen.”

When asked if he would have abandoned the pursuit if he didn’t have information that Maddison was wanted for serious offences, Sgt Douglas said there was a possibility.

“Well if I didn’t have the information that he was wanted... there is a possibility that there is a ‘where is the imminent need’ (for a pursuit),” he said.

When Maddison began shooting at police on Wallers Rd, Sgt Douglas said there was “screaming” on the radio.

“I had the ear-set on my head, I heard the screaming on the radio,” he said.

“I had something happen to me which has never happened before.

“It was like I had adrenaline. I lost hearing.

“All I could hear was my heart beat. I had an immediate reaction on me physically that had never happened before.”

Before the pursuit he said had never heard of Maddison.

He said he couldn’t recall how many pursuits he had been involved in since taking up the post three years earlier.

“Pursuits are not done lightly and they have to cross over a certain … it has to be a lot of an imminent need and an emergency to continue on,” he said.

“I don’t like pursuits generally. “

‘Dangerous, wanted for torture’: Warning before fatal shootout

A sergeant who kept Ricky Maddison on the phone long enough for him to be found told a court he ran into the communications room when a pursuit began to say the gunman was “dangerous” and wanted for serious crimes.

Sergeant Peter Jenkins told an inquest he had spoken to Maddison for some time shortly before a pursuit began that led to Senior Constable Brett Forte being murdered.

He said Maddison had been calling the station from pay phones to argue with police and the plan was to keep him on the phone should he call.

Police vehicles would then be sent out to search pay phones for the gunman.

The inquest heard Sen Const. Forte answered a call on the afternoon of May 29, 2017 – the same day he was murdered – and spoke to Maddison briefly before transferring the call to Sgt Jenkins.

He said he used a technique of making Maddison angry and then calming him down to keep him on the line.

Maddison eventually hung up but was spotted by a police patrol driving along Mary St in Toowoomba shortly after.

Sgt Jenkins denied he ran into the communications room to convince the pursuit controller – the COMCO – to chase Maddison “no matter what”.

“I wanted him to be aware of all the information he needed so that he could make decisions,” Sgt Jenkins said, saying he wanted only to provide him with “situational awareness”.

Barrister David Funch put to Sgt Jenkins that he told the COMCO Maddison was dangerous.

Mr Funch said: “I suggest that what you said to (the COMCO) when you got to the comms room is ‘he’s dangerous, he’s wanted for torture, he’s wanted for serious, really serious offences. We need to get him’. Do you accept that you may have said that to (the COMCO)?”

Sgt Jenkins responded: “I would accept that I told him that he was wanted for serious offences, torture being one and I recall telling him that it was Ricky Maddison and that the car belonged to his brother. But I can’t recall whether I said the rest of it.”

Mr Funch said: “But you accept it’s possible you may have said to him ‘we need to get him’?”

Sgt Jenkins responded: “No, not really. I said it was possible. I can’t recall saying it. It is possible because he was wanted. He was dangerous.”

Sgt Jenkins said he was unaware of receiving an email on May 22 – a week before the shooting – of reports of automatic gunfire in the vicinity of Wallers Rd.

“I haven’t seen it, I can’t recall it,” he said.

Sgt Jenkins said he couldn’t remember any reports of automatic gunfire.

“I didn’t know where they were going …” he said of the pursuit going on to Wallers Rd.

Sgt Jenkins said he forwarded the email to Senior Sergeant Scott Stahlhut on July 26.

He said Sen Const Cath Nielsen had told him she felt she had been lied to by Sen Sgt Scott Stahlhut about the investigation.

Police didn’t link cop killer with machine gun fire

The team leader of the squad hunting for paranoid gunman Ricky Maddison told a court he “never made the link” between reports of machine gun fire on the edge of the Lockyer National Park despite the park being a “specific target area” of their search.

Sergeant Dan Curtain is giving evidence at the inquest into the murder of Senior Constable Brett Forte and the death of gunman Ricky Maddison in 2017.

He told the court he became aware of an investigation into reports of automatic gunfire in the vicinity of Wallers Rd in the Lockyer Valley on May 22 — a week before Sen Const. Forte was killed.

Senior Constable Brett Forte was fatally wounded after pursuing Ricky Maddison in 2017.

Three days later, he joined other officers on a patrol through the Lockyer National Park because police thought Maddison might have been living rough in the bush.

“I never made that link,” he said, of the suggestion that Maddison may have been behind the gunfire that had been heard in the area since January.

He said police carried a long arm rifle in the car during the patrol, which he said was not uncommon in Toowoomba.

Sen Const. Forte was killed on May 29, 2017, by known criminal Ricky Maddison, following a low-speed pursuit at Seventeen Mile in the Lockyer Valley.

The inquest heard Maddison’s behaviour had become increasingly erratic in the days leading up to Sen Const. Forte’s murder, with the gunman having spent two months avoiding an arrest warrant over a domestic violence matter.

The inquest heard Maddison had been calling police in Toowoomba from pay phones, telling them “youse (sic) know where I am” and “I left enough trails”.

On the afternoon of May 29, Maddison was spotted in Toowoomba and pursued by several police vehicles down the Warrego Hwy before he veered off the road.

Police followed him along Wallers Rd — a dirt road — where Maddison suddenly got out of his car and opened fire with an assault rifle.

Sen Const. Forte was killed and Maddison held specialist SERT officers at bay for 20 hours before they shot and killed him.

Sgt Curtain agreed that Wallers Rd runs through the national park but said they had not linked the gunfire reports with the theory Maddison was hiding there.

Police on Wallers Road where Senior Constable Brett Forte was shot. Picture: Darren England

“So five days before Brett was killed, you’re looking for Ricky Maddison in the Lockyer National Park,” barrister David Funch asked.

“You’re advised of reports of automatic gunfire in the Lockyer National Park. That must have caused you some concern?”

“I never made the link,” Sgt Curtain said.

The inquest heard another officer in the car that day was Senior Constable Andre Thaler.

Sen Const. Thaler, on May 18, had gone for a bush walk on his day off along Wallers Rd with his police QLiTE device and a pair of binoculars.

During his walk, the court heard he was confronted by a bikie associate named Adam Byatt who warned him to be careful because there were “hillbillies” in the hills.

It was later discovered that Byatt and Maddison were friends and Maddison had been at his Wallers Rd property.

Sgt Curtain said police were carrying a rifle in relation to the intelligence they had and said “no” when asked if there was a heightened risk due to reports of automatic gunfire.

A Facebook photo of cop killer Rick Maddison who had taunted police in the weeks before the confrontation with police.

When asked if Sen Const. Thaler had told them that during his walk there was a “veiled threat that he might get shot”, Sgt Curtain responded: “He may have, but I don’t recall that specifically.”

Sen Const. Thaler has said it was a coincidence his walk was along Wallers Rd and did not know about the reports of gunfire at that time.

Sgt Curtain agreed with Mr Funch that Sen Const. Thaler was “assigned to locate Maddison as soon as possible” around May 18.

Another lawyer representing some of the police officers clarified that Sen Const. Thaler would not have become aware of the mission to find Maddison until May 20 when he returned from days off.