The extensive seven-month hunt for the 56-year-old man concluded tragically when police fatally shot him amidst gunfire on a secluded property in Thologolong, close to Walwa on the Victoria-New South Wales border, on March 30.
Today, State Coroner Liberty Sanger is set to conduct direction hearings concerning the involved police officers, followed by an examination of Freeman’s case later in the afternoon.
During these proceedings, the coroner is expected to schedule the inquests, define their scope, and determine the witnesses who will be called to testify.
The coroner’s investigation will delve into the specifics of the three fatalities to ascertain the identities of the deceased, the causes of their deaths, and explore preventive measures for future incidents, explained forensic criminologist Claire Ferguson from Queensland University of Technology.
“A thorough reconstruction of the events will be conducted, which might include pinpointing individuals’ precise locations at the scenes and analyzing forensic evidence,” Dr. Ferguson shared with AAP.
There has been widespread curiosity regarding how Freeman ended up in Thologolong, located roughly 150 kilometers from Porepunkah, where he had previously shot the officers fatally.
That could also form part of the investigation.
Footage showed Freeman wrapped in a blanket when he emerged from the shipping container, which appeared to be a makeshift campsite, before pulling a gun from underneath and pointing it at police.
It is not known if he had fired the gun before multiple officers shot him dead, but Police Commissioner Mike Bush has maintained the shooting was justified.
Whether that video will be shown to the public will depend on the coroner weighing up the benefits of transparency and accountability and the probative value of people seeing police shoot someone, Bond University criminologist Dr Terry Goldsworthy said.
Investigators had been exploring the possibility Freeman received help from others in evading police for 216 days, with Bush saying it would have been very difficult for him to get to where he was without assistance.
Child sexual abuse allegations levelled against Freeman will be investigated to inform the coroner on the police’s initial decision to attend his property, but a finding of guilt won’t be made, Goldsworthy said.
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