Dezi Freeman inquest: police investigating alleged sexual assault of child when two killed, coroner hears

The alleged sexual assault of a child has been revealed as the reason for a search warrant against Dezi Freeman that ended with him shooting dead two Victorian police officers. Fresh details into the August deaths of Det Leading Sen Const Neal Thompson, 59, and Sen Const Vadim De Waart-Hottart, 35, at Freeman’s home were detailed in a coroner’s court directions hearing on Monday morning. Freeman, also known as Desmond Filby, was shot dead by police in March, after being discovered at makeshift campsite about 150km away. The counsel assisting the inquest, Linsday Spence, said in his opening summary police had executed the warrant after receiving disclosure of an alleged sexual assault involving a child under the age of 16, as well as an attempt to involve a child in the production of child abuse material. “The purpose of the search warrant was for the locating and seizure of electronic devices that were to be interrogated for the potential presence of child abuse material,” he told the court. Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email “It was also intended that the person of interest was to be arrested and subsequently interviewed.” The two killed officers were among a team of police serving a warrant at his home at Porepunkah, 310km north-west of Melbourne. After Freeman killed Thompson and De Waart-Hottart, he led police on one of the nation’s largest manhunts. …