Near-impenetrable alpine bushland and the possibility of further ambushes will hamper police as they pursue accused killer Dezi Freeman.
The property where he was living backs on to forests that become part of Mount Buffalo National Park, terrain locals describe as dense and steep, with no easy walking paths.
“Most of it you’re bush-bashing,” said Robert Deeble, who manages a store in Mansfield and regularly hunts in the area. “Even as an experienced hunter, it’s tough going.”
Freeman is also an experienced bushman, so Deeble estimated that he might be able to travel 10 to 15 kilometres a day through the area.
The dense terrain, full of crags and gullies, meant finding Freeman from the ground would be extremely difficult.
Former police search and rescue officer and consultant Philip Benfield said: “Even if we’re looking for someone deceased, out in the open, a search party would have great difficulty finding them – even if they are two metres away.”
Loading
A source with knowledge of police special operation tactics, speaking anonymously to protect relationships, said officers had to assume Freeman had prepared for the attack.
That could mean he had various camps within the forest and had prepared further ambushes.
Instead of pushing into dense bushland, where Freeman would probably be able to detect them, they were likely to wait him out, the source said.
Freeman has allegedly already killed two police officers, and faces mandatory life in jail if convicted of those crimes, meaning he could have nothing left to lose other than his life.
Read the full article here
