Source : Perth Now news
Police uncovered a stash of child abuse material in the search for fugitive Dezi Freeman, who was gunned down in late March after more than seven months on the run.
Freeman was shot more than 20 times on March 30 at a converted shipping container in Thologolong, situated parallel to the Murray River on the Victoria-NSW border.
The death of the self-proclaimed sovereign citizen came after Freeman fatally shot two police officers – Vadim De Waart-Hottart and Neal Thompson – and seriously injured a third.
Police were completing a search of his residence in Porepunkah on August 26 last year when he opened fire and killed the two officers.
Freeman fled into dense bushland where he remained in hiding for seven months.
Few details have been revealed about the search of the double cop killer’s residence, which was being undertaken by the Wangaratta Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigation Team.
However, police sources told the ABC that officers were at his Porepunkah residence to search Freeman’s devices, which were later revealed to contain hundreds of child abuse files.
Sources said the historical sex offences investigation included accusations of sexual exposure.
One alleged victim had been in contact with police, the sources said.
Freeman previously said the investigation involved a “skinny dipping” incident, which police told the broadcaster would form part of the investigation.
However, no charges will ever be laid against Freeman, who was fatally shot by Special Operations Group (SOG) officers.
A Victoria Police spokesman told NewsWire they were unable to verify any of these claims.
The manhunt for Freeman, which spanned 216 days, was one of the largest in Australian history, with police receiving more than 2000 pieces of information to track him down.
A police tip-off led officers to a converted shipping container on the Victoria-NSW border, about 150km from where the wanted man was last seen.
SOG officers stood out the front of the converted shipping container for three hours, trying to encourage Freeman to surrender.
However, when negotiations failed, officers used a BearCat “claw” to coax the fugitive out of the container he was hiding in, launching flash bangs into the structure after he refused to leave peacefully.
Dressed in nothing but a blanket and a weapon believed to be stolen from one of the fallen officers, Freeman emerged from the shipping container, where he was fatally shot by officers.
Freeman was shot more than 20 times after the tense three-hour stand-off.
