Son of slain policeman ‘will never know his dad’

THE emotions of a shattered family trying to deal with their loss have been shared during a speech by Toowoomba Mayor Paul Antonio.

Towoomba’s councillors paused for a minute’s silence in honour of Senior Constable Brett Forte and his family this morning.

Snr Const Forte was killed by Rick Maddison in the Lockyer Valley on Monday after attempting to intercept the wanted man.

Maddison died after being shot by police on Tuesday after a long stand-off.

Before the gesture in the council chambers, Cr Antonio spoke of a meeting yesterday morning with Snr Const Forte’s parents, brothers and son.

He became emotional as he spoke of Snr Const Forte’s son.

“The three-year-old boy, who due to this incident, will never ever know his dad.

“That little man displayed... he has obviously hasn’t quite picked up what’s happening and what this means for his life.”

There has been an outpouring of grief in Toowoomba after the death of Snr Const Forte and Cr Antonio said the reaction was justified.

“This community, I would suggest, has stepped actually up to the mark.”

Cr Antonio said the deaths had drawn national attention to the fact that men and women in the police service faced significant risks every day.

“Each morning, each time they leave their home, nobody knows what they will face that day.

“Brett Forte left that morning to do his duty, to make this place better.

“As one of the senior police said to me in recent days, there are thousands of these calls per year.

“And this just happened to be one that Brett was involved in.

“I think as time goes by we will realise the tremendous bravery that was shown by other members of police that were on that site there.

“We will also come to terms with the tragedy of losing a senior constable who was very experienced.”