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The owner of Dezi Freeman’s hideout has contacted police after learning about the siege while living in a remote Tasmanian town.
Richard Sutherland, 75, has been sought by Victoria Police since the shoot-out at the rural Murray River Road property in Thologolong on Monday. He is not suspected of any involvement.
Freeman died in a volley of gunfire from heavily armed members of the Special Operations Group outside the 35-hectare property near the Victoria-NSW border, following an hours-long stand-off calling for his surrender.
The owner, Sutherland – who is suffering a serious illness – has been living in remote eastern Tasmania with his family since Christmas, friends have confirmed.
One friend, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told this masthead that Sutherland has called a police station to make himself available whenever Victorian officers are ready to interview him.
“He’s not in any way sympathetic to [Freeman or his beliefs],” he said.
The owner’s brother, Neil Sutherland, is technically a neighbour too. But his homestead is almost two kilometres from the encampment where Freeman was shot – such is the isolation in sparsely populated Thologolong.
Yet, he still heard a helicopter, a bang and a police bullhorn early on Monday as noise echoed down the Upper Murray Valley.
He was surprised to later learn that Australia’s most wanted man was the target of the raid next door, but his brother, Ricky, was even more startled.
“He was shocked,” said Neil Sutherland, who spoke to his brother on the phone on Monday afternoon. “He had no idea.”
On Tuesday, dozens of police and forensic officers combed the encampment where Freeman was killed.
The Special Operations Group’s armoured BearCat truck was moved from the scene around 4pm.
It had been positioned against a shipping container that it appeared to have rammed in Monday’s raid, with a long pole protruding from the front of the vehicle.
The site where Freeman was killed is surrounded by hills that are still marked with black scars from the Mount Lawson bushfire that razed more than 120,000 hectares in January.
The gate to Richard Sutherland’s property had been unlocked to allow firefighters access, his friend said.
“Someone must’ve worked out there’s no one living there,” the friend said, speaking anonymously due to the sensitivity of the matter. “And then someone’s assisted [Freeman] to stay there with food.”
Neil Sutherland is also concerned that someone knew his brother was away and helped Freeman hide out.
“It casts a slur on all of us really,” he said. “I hate to think there might be some prick around here that has been feeding him [Freeman] information.”
The captain of the closest CFA brigade, Hayden Drummond, said the Mount Lawson fire happened to start within sight of Freeman’s encampment, but stressed the blaze was not suspicious.
“I spoke to the head investigator. [There’s] not even a slightest bit of doubt,” Drummond said. “He literally found the tree that was hit [by lightning].”
At the property, Freeman lived in a collection of shipping containers and portable houses set among what one local described as “a whole heap of crap”.
Sutherland’s friend said the place was fantastic, but it’d been left in a “bit of a mess” due to his illness.
Freeman probably died cold, as it was still chilly in the Upper Murray valley early on Tuesday before the March sun pierced low-hanging clouds.
Few would have felt the same morning chill, however, as Thologolong recorded a population of just 22 people at the last census.
The nearest substantial town – Walwa – is 30 minutes drive away. Rabbits are more common than passing cars.
Police are still investigating whether others had been at the remote Thologolong property where Freeman died.
Chief Commissioner Mike Bush said there was no one else there on Monday, but a number of vehicles were found after the raid.
“It’s a very remote community,” he said. “That is now forming part of a crime scene that will be totally examined.”
Bush added that “every tactical option” to resolve the matter peacefully was deployed, but Freeman’s actions “took away any discretion our officers had to resolve this peacefully”.
Neil Sutherland, meanwhile, spent Tuesday speaking with a seemingly endless stream of journalists after Australia’s biggest ever manhunt ended on his doorstep.
“It’s a pretty boring place here normally. I don’t even have a television or internet,” he said. “I’d never considered he would come this far.”
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Carla Jaeger is a journalist for The Age. Got a tip? Email carla.jaeger@theage.com.au or message carlajaeger.62 on Signal.Connect via X or email.From our partners
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