Slain Victorian Police officers honoured in heartbreaking tributes one year on from horror Porepunkah shootings

Standing in front of the brick-and-mortar Wangaratta Police Station, heads are bowed, eyes are closed and drawn to the ground, and tears are shed.

Rain clouds blanket the skies as a minute’s silence echoes through the quiet Victorian town, a community ushered together solemnly as they honour two police officers who were tragically gunned down in the line of duty one year ago today.

Two Victoria Police officers, Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart, were both killed after being fatally shot by Desmond Freeman during a search warrant in Porepunkah in Victoria’s High Country.

It‘s a moment in time that will go down as one of the darkest days in Victoria’s history.

It was one year ago when 10 police officers arrived at a property in Porepunkah to serve Desmond (Dezi) Freeman a warrant for alleged historical sexual offences.

The officers intended to search the property when Freeman opened fire, killing two and seriously injuring a third.

He fled into the dense bushland, where for seven months, the double cop killer was in hiding among Victoria’s dense and challenging bushland.

It sparked one of the country’s biggest manhunts, with hundreds of officers and volunteers combing through the state’s north for signs of the fugitive.

Many theorised he had taken his own life, some believed he may have succumbed to the elements, while others believed he was still in hiding.

It wasn’t until March this year, 216 days after the shooting, when Freeman was finally cornered in a shipping container in Thologolong on the Victoria-NSW border, about 200km from the August shooting.

After a tense three-hour stand-off with officers, Freeman refused to co-operate and was gunned down in the early hours of March 30, marking the end of a seven-month manhunt for one of the country’s most notorious killers.

Speaking at the newly-placed memorial in Wangaratta Police Station on Tuesday, Commissioner Mike Bush said “a team of highly dedicated, very capable officers embarked on a mission to hold (an alleged) pedophile to account” in August last year.

“What occurred after that was an absolute tragedy, one of the most tragic days, in Victoria Police history,” he said.

“A day that took the life of two of our best, Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal ‘Thommo’ Thompson, and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart.