Revealed: Dezi Freeman’s first ‘reported sighting’. And it’s nowhere near Victoria’s high country

A prominent Melbourne businessman swears he locked eyes with fugitive cop killer Dezi Freeman in a sighting far from Victoria’s high country – and he’s challenging police to prove him wrong.

A prominent Melbourne businessman who is convinced that he saw fugitive cop killer Dezi Freeman in South Africa has challenged the police to prove him wrong.

The high-profile figure, who has ties to the AFL industry and only wishes to be identified by his first name Stuart, has reported sighting Freeman in a popular tourist district of Cape Town on September 1.

“I am 99 per cent certain that it was Dezi,” Stuart said.

Correspondence provided to the Herald Sun by the businessman shows that investigators from Summit Taskforce — which is running the search for Freeman — last week asked him to pinpoint the exact location.

A prominent Melbourne businessman is convinced he saw fugitive cop killer Dezi Freeman in South Africa. Picture: Facebook

But a Victoria Police spokesman said this week: “Taskforce Summit investigates every piece of information provided to police. Every lead is pursued. This avenue of enquiry has been investigated, is no longer viable and has been discounted.

Now the potential witness has challenged the police to explain how they have discounted his information.

Dezi Freeman has been missing since shooting two police dead in Victoria’s High Country. Picture: Daily Mail

“I’m happy to be proven wrong. But I’m not sure they’ve done their homework” Stuart said on Thursday morning.

“Have they gone over there and checked the CCTV in Cape Town?” I’m still convinced it was Dezi. I just want justice like everyone does.”

Stuart, who had been in South Africa on holiday, alleged he spotted the fugitive near Hotel Sky, where he was staying.

The Victorian high country where police have been searching for Freeman for months. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Just after lunch (local time) on September 1, the 74-year-old businessman said he was walking north towards the water, when he saw a man he believed to be Freeman near the corner of Dock Rd and S. Arm Rd.

“His eyes fixed on me. He was about seven metres away, but his gaze felt almost magnetic,” he said.

Stuart contacted Crime Stoppers as soon as he had returned to Melbourne on September 4.

He received a phone call from Victoria Police later that night, he said.

“I make this statement in full knowledge that a baseless or reckless account could be a crime in itself,” the businessman told investigators in a text.

The businessman claims he spotted Freeman at the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town, South Africa.

The Waterfront in Cape Town is a popular tourist area.

Last Wednesday, Stuart wrote to Chief Commissioner Mike Bush about the sighting.

“The more photos and TV footage that I see provide me with greater certainty that I saw Desi (sic) Freeman,” he said.

He was soon phoned by a member of the Summit Taskforce, who requested that he provide the exact location of the alleged sighting, providing satellite images.

Those details were provided on Thursday night, with the officer thanking him for the update the following day, November 21.

Stuart wrote to Chief Commissioner Mike Bush about the sighting. Picture: Josie Hayden

The businessman says he recognised Freeman by his eyes. Picture: A Current Affair

“I’m pretty well known around Melbourne for my ability to recognise faces. I know what I saw,” Stuart told the Herald Sun this week.

“I was walking through the Cape Town Waterfront one afternoon. I saw a group of five or six guys walking towards me. They looked out of place compared to the tourists and the families that were already in that area.

“I caught the eyes of this guy in the middle of the pack and I thought, I know him! The rest of guys were standing around him, almost like bodyguards.

“It was the eyes. I recognised the eyes from the photos that I’d seen online. I made eye contact with the person I regard to be Dezi Freeman for two full seconds. Then he bolted. I reckon he ran because he realised that I had noticed him.”

Freeman went on the run on August 26 in Victoria’s High Country after two police officers were shot dead at his property.

Police were serving a warrant on Freeman when he gunned down Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart and Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson in Porepunkah, 310km northeast of Melbourne. A third officer was wounded.

Freeman went on the run on August 26 after two police officers were shot dead at his property. Picture: Jason Edwards

There have been no confirmed sightings of Freeman since. Picture: Jason Edwards

There have been no confirmed sightings of Freeman since, with police not ruling out the possibilities he had fled the state, or even Australia, that he was being harboured, was still holed up in dense bush near Porepunkah or was dead.

Police have not ruled out the possibilities Dezi has fled the state. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Police airwing searches the high country for Freeman in the weeks after he shot dead two police officers. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

If the South Africa sighting of Freeman is accurate, it suggests Freeman would have had to have escaped by air, as the six days between the shooting ambush and alleged sighting is not long enough for him to have made the journey by sea.

The businessman is also a local sporting club administrator and has handled the affairs of AFL Premiership Champions and Australian Test Cricketers.

A $1m reward is being offered for information leading to Freeman’s arrest.

Stuart said he was not aware of any reward being on offer when he first alerted police to the alleged sighting, with the incentive being announced the day after he had reached out to Crime Stoppers.

Originally published as Revealed: Dezi Freeman’s first ‘reported sighting’. And it’s nowhere near Victoria’s high country