‘Don’t help Dezi Freeman’; cops warn his supporters
As the nation’s biggest manhunt drags on to a seventh day, Victoria Police are appealing to those they believe are assisting him to come forward.
Victoria Police have revealed they believe people are harbouring and helping alleged cop killer Dezi Freeman evade a massive manhunt that has dragged on for almost a week.
On the seventh day of the manhunt after last Tuesday’s ambush killing in Porepunkah, Superintendent Brett Kahan said “people know the whereabouts of the person who’s killed two cops”.
Superintendent Kahan said he was no longer appealing to Freeman to get in touch with the police, but rather the people who were assisting him.
“You are committing an extremely serious crime by harbouring or assisting in the escape of Dezi Freeman,” he said.
Police have set up a mobile police facility at Bright in northeast Victoria to encourage people to come forward and offer information anonymously.
“There’s certain areas in and around that dense forest land which we know has previously been populated by the fugitive,” Superintendent Kahan said.
“If you know any of any of those locations, please let the police know.
“The resources committed to this goes far beyond the search for Dezi Freeman. It’s not lost on me that we now have to also resource the funerals of two former colleagues.”
The elite Special Operations Group descended to a large forest area off the Great Alpine Road in Porepunkah called the Braithwaites Plantation about 3:30pm Monday.
A police helicopter could be seen circling the area overhead.
Officers were also inspecting the property on Rayner Track where Freeman once lived.
There has been no confirmed sighting of the suspect at large since Tuesday.
The estranged wife of Australia’s most wanted man has pleaded with him to surrender after he allegedly killed two Victoria Police officers, as new details emerge of the life of Amalia Freeman in the state’s high country.
In a statement provided via her lawyer, Sophie Greiner, on Sunday, Ms Freeman, who also goes by the name Mali, said she and her children wished to “share our deep sorrow for the loss of the lives of Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim De Waart”.
Ms Freeman said 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,” she said.
“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 000 and arrange a surrender plan with the police.”
She also urged anyone who might be helping her husband to contact police.
On Sunday evening, at the conclusion of the sixth day of the manhunt, police also announced that the 7.5km no-fly zone around Porepunkah had been extended until Tuesday.
The Australian can reveal the warrant executed at the time of the fatal shooting was classified as level 1 – the lowest threat category used by police.
‘The search warrant executed was a level 1 search warrant. An appropriate risk assessment was completed, and resources aligned appropriately,” a Victoria Police spokesperson said, explaining why the force did not deploy more specialised officers to conduct the operation at the rural property on Rayner Track, given the alleged double killer had a long history of threatening police.
A spokesman said there was no request for members of the Special Operation Group (SOG) to attend. “What I can tell you is that it was considered but it wasn’t requested,” he said. “When they prepare for a search warrant, they’ll do a risk assessment. They will then decide what level of risk is attached to that and what resources are required to support that.
“They did not consider a request to the SOG necessary. So what follows is – there was no request, therefore there was no declining of a request.”
Behind the manhunt, a more rounded portrait of Mali, who is Filipino by descent, has emerged.
In one photograph, believed to be taken on Mother’s Day two years ago, she sits on a wooden bench beneath autumn leaves, cradling her baby in her arms while her two older sons lean in close.
Mali and her now 15-year-old son were arrested in a dramatic police raid on Thursday night that included fugitive squad detectives, and were later released without charge.
The Australian exclusively revealed the raid as it unfolded, photographing Mali being dragged out barefoot, clutching the same baby, now a toddler, before being bundled into a police vehicle. The child’s cries could be heard despite heavy rain.
On that same night, Mali’s best friend, Ellissa Pernu, was also dragged from home barefoot to be questioned by police. She was also not charged.
The pair began writing and performing songs together several years ago. They are both longtime residents of the Alpine region and they often played in small community venues – from local cafes and pubs to weekend markets and regional music festivals.
Both Mali and Ellissa declined to comment on the record.
On their Facebook page, they describe their music as a mix of traditional and alternative country and folk, with Mali and Ellissa “bolstering each other’s original work with sweet harmonies”.
They have spoken about the challenges they faced in 2020, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, describing it as a “rough ride”.
For Mali, it would have been especially tough, given her husband is a Covid sceptic, an anti-vaxxer and reportedly someone who delighted in taking the opposite view of everyone else.
Mali and Ellissa signed off on a post saying 2020 had tested their “patience and resilience” but thanked their supporters for giving them opportunities to perform.
“The ups and downs have tested our patience and resilience. We are blessed that we have had beautiful people’s support during the most difficult year ever. For without you all we would not be where we are today,” they said.
“We would like to say thank you to all the people who were very kind to us and have given us the opportunity to play in their venues, pubs, markets and gatherings. Thank you for allowing us to do what we love doing.”
Although their following remained small, they both were well known in their local community.
Mali’s husband, a skilled bushman, is believed to be hiding deep in caves or mineshafts, leaving behind his family to bear the weight of the storm.
Lidar maps of mines around Bright and Porepunkah show thousands of mineshafts hidden in the mountains around the regions.
Expert prospector Chris Bogusis, who regularly explores the mineshafts for minerals, said there could be more than 100,000 holes in the region.
“A lot of mines that were recorded sort of push up into the tens of thousands of open holes and mining pits. Some of them are just little crates in the ground, some of them quite extensive mines,” Mr Bogusis said.
“And there’s the unofficial ones. The people that came in after the big consortiums or before the big consortiums did little bits of prospecting, little bits of mining and just left them.
“So if you’re talking about the mines in their totality, you could be talking over 100,000 holes.”
The shotgun-wielding conspiracy theorist could be in any one of these holes.
