‘Wet from blood’: Dezi Freeman’s landlord says he helped save wounded officer

The owner of the property where Dezi Freeman murdered two police has told of his efforts to help a third officer gravely injured in the shooting.

Andrew Swift describes witnessing the incident unfold at his remote bushland property in Porepunkah on August 26, 2025, and intervening to rescue the injured policeman, whose pants were covered in blood.

“He’s wearing dark-coloured pants, but you could tell they were all wet from blood, from a gunshot somewhere down on his lower half,” Swift said in a brief preview of his interview with the Living Free Movement’s YouTube channel.

Swift said he ventured onto his property to help the stricken officer to an ambulance, after the remaining officers had retreated to safety.

“I could tell because of his lower injury I wouldn’t be able to get him in the Kubota [tractor], so I then said to police I’m going to go get a more suitable vehicle, so we can get this guy in, get him to the ambulance.”

Dave Armstrong, who filmed and posted the 30-second clip, teased that a longer interview with Swift would be available at the weekend.

Swift’s version of events mirrors those told to The Age last year by four sources either close to the family or aware of the shooting.

Those who lived near the Porepunkah property, who asked not to be identified due to safety concerns, reported seeing Swift’s car speeding in and out of the gated Rayner Track driveway shortly after the incident.

After shooting dead Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart, Freeman fled into the bush, sparking the largest manhunt in Victoria’s history. On March 30, he was shot dead by heavily armed police who tracked him to a remote hideout in Thologolong, by the NSW border.

Swift and his wife, Rebecca, had permitted Freeman and his family to stay at their property, where they lived in a converted bus. The Swifts, well-liked “greenies”, bought the property in 2016.

Rebecca and Andrew Swift said in a statement, intended for “independent media” and “seekers of truth” and obtained by The Age, that they wanted to present “real, factual information regarding the Dezi Freeman story”.

“Our hope is to work with people who are willing to engage thoughtfully and help ensure a more complete and balanced account is available,” they said.

“The story we will be sharing with you has not been presented by any mainstream media, because we have maintained complete silence with the msm propaganda machine and have avoided them.”

The Swifts said they accepted that Freeman killed two police officers but said the outcome could have been avoided if “protocol and common sense, decency, humanity and reason had ... been employed on that day”.

“We did not anticipate or expect any of what occurred. But somehow the mainstream media were experts on Dezi Freeman from the first day,” they said.

Armstrong said the Swifts had contacted him directly to share their story due to “serious mistrust of the media and how they’ve portrayed things from the start”, including that Freeman was part of the anti-government “sovereign citizen” movement.

“For those who feel that things don’t add up, that’s 100 per cent correct,” Armstrong said in his video. He said he had more interviews, footage and copies of police warrants which he claimed told the “real story” about Freeman’s violence.

The Living Free Movement describes itself as a place for “thought leaders and story tellers” which supports “freedom in health, lifestyle, clean food, lawful processes”.

Freeman, who changed his name from Desmond Filby, was described by family and associates as becoming increasingly anti-authority and paranoid during the pandemic and had a growing hatred of police.

Andrew Swift and The Living Free Movement were contacted for comment.

With Grant McArthur

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