Dezi Freeman’s Desperate Messages Revealed: ‘I’ll Drive, They Can Shoot Me – I Don’t Care Anymore’
- A close friend of fugitive Dezi Freeman reveals chilling messages sent days before the alleged police shooting
- Freeman, 56, was fixated on fighting police in court and had lost his license for refusing breath tests and drug tests
- A $1 million reward remains in place for information leading to Freeman’s capture, with police scouring homes, caves, and mine shafts
Retired soldier Bruce Evans, a close friend of Freeman, has spoken out about the alarming messages he received from the 56-year-old in the lead-up to the violent confrontation. Evans said Freeman was obsessed with fighting police in court in recent weeks, after losing his license for refusing breath tests and drug tests.
“He lost his license for refusing breath tests and drug tests and he was representing himself,” Evans revealed. Just days before the shooting, Freeman sent Evans a disturbing message: “I will drive soon. They can f**king shoot me. I don’t even f**king care anymore”.
“He didn’t give a f**k anymore and he was just going to drive and if the police shot him, he didn’t care,” Evans said, visibly shaken. When Evans learned of the tragic deaths of the police officers, he was stunned. “Another mate phoned me up, my first reaction was —- and he said, ‘no, there’s choppers everywhere and everything,” he recalled.
Freeman has been on the run for three weeks, after fleeing his bush compound in Porepunkah, Victoria’s alpine region. When 10 police turned up with a warrant related to child abuse claims, Freeman barricaded himself inside the bus he was living in. “He wanted to be off-grid,” Evans explained.
Victoria Police detective leading senior constable Neal Thompson and senior constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart were shot dead in the subsequent confrontation. Freeman then ran into dense bushland which borders his home.
Evans condemned the shooting, saying “I don’t condone the shooting, my condolences to the families… I don’t think it should have happened, it would have been better if he had just surrendered.” The search for Freeman has been intense, with homes, caves, and mine shafts being scoured. One new theory being explored is that Freeman escaped by kayak, after previously filming himself paddling down a river which borders his compound.
Evans described Freeman as “very smart, like a walking dictionary on the law”. “He could just rattle them off like that, one after the other,” he said. A $1 million dollar reward remains in place for information which leads to Freeman’s capture, with Evans believing that there would be very few people “if any” that would harbour Freeman.