A friend of Dezi Freeman’s who also lived on the same Porepunkah property where the shooting unfolded told reporters on Friday he has been helping take care of Freeman’s wife Mali and their children, describing them as “highly stressed.”
“To Dezi, do the right thing for your family,” Fabio Zambelli told Channel Ten. “Giving up, surrender. “I’m not here to judge … but there’s a woman and kids under high stress.”
Zambelli, with his back turned, at the Porepunkah property where police officers were ambushed yesterday.Credit: The Age
On Wednesday morning, hours after the alleged double murder, Zambelli, who was dressed in jeans, a striped black-and-white jumper with a bright yellow jumper draped over his shoulders, declined to be interviewed, before parking his car across the driveway of the sprawling Porepunkah property stop anyone from entering.
“I am here to protect the owners,” he told reporters at the time. “I live here. You have to know you are trespassing.”
Zambelli, who was eating a banana, said he was an Italian migrant who arrived in Australia from Italy 13 years ago.
He confirmed several people lived at the property, but he would not say how many people or what the living arrangements were.
He said he was not home at the time police swarmed the property and that he had slept in his car overnight after learning of the shooting and been unable to return home.
“It was a very long night,” he said. “I am exhausted.”
Another friend, Marlie Thomas, attends the local Our Lady of Snows Catholic church alongside Freeman and his wife.
“We knew he was withdrawing a little bit,” she said. “We said, ‘we’ve got to keep a closer eye on him’.“
She urged Freeman to “please come in, hand yourself in”.
With AAP
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