Evil past of man who shot officer
RICK Maddison pinned his girlfriend down on a bed and menaced her with a hunting knife in a terrifying night of torture, police were told.
Maddison put the tip of the knife beneath the woman’s eye, up her nose and across her throat before plunging it into a bedhead, she alleged.
The September 2015 attack culminated, the woman told police, in Maddison covering her in petrol and threatening to set her alight as she kneeled on the concrete floor of a shed.
But the allegations were never tested, with the woman withdrawing her complaint and refusing to testify when police pushed ahead with charges.
Maddison would go on to shoot dead Senior Constable Brett Forte after a low-speed pursuit last Monday, as police tried to apprehend him following allegations of another attack on the same woman in March this year.
Court documents and transcripts obtained by The Courier-Mail shed new light on the murder, showing police were caught in the cross fire as they tried to tackle serious allegations of violence.
The woman had started a relationship with Maddison in July 2015 and went to police in September of that year, saying she had endured months of assaults and torture.
Detailing numerous attacks, she alleged Maddison head-butted, punched and strangled her for perceived slights ranging from accusations of cheating to being too slow to talk to him on returning home.
Police made immediate and repeated attempts to find Maddison, but he had gone into hiding and in October 2015 the woman attended Toowoomba police station and withdrew her complaint in writing.
“I am fearful of what Rick Maddison could do to me and my children after the criminal charges go through,” she wrote at the time.
“I am fearful that he would come after me more if I charge him.
“I have talked to DV Connect, a police liaison (officer) in regards to witness protection, researched figures and facts in relation to similar cases and also had a thorough discussion with both police officers today in regards to all aspects of going through and not going through with the conviction.
“I have weighed up all the facts over the last couple of weeks and am confident in
my decision to withdraw.”
A few weeks later, in November 2015, she told police again she no longer wanted to take part in court proceedings.
She added that she was “not fearful of him or for my safety” and was not in the right frame of mind when she made her statements. She blamed concussion and medication.
But at no stage did she tell officers the events did not occur and police believed it was in the public interest to continue with the case.
On November 13, 2015, more than two months after the woman went to police, Maddison handed himself in
and was charged with multiple offences including torture and assault.
When he appeared in Toowoomba Magistrates Court later that day his lawyer Adam Guest protested that Maddison had been forced to change out of his suit and into prison browns.
“Mr Maddison came and gave an interview this morning, with 600 pages of email and text messages relating to the times around these incidents.
“They were completely incongruent with the suggestions that were made by the complainant … and he denied all of the
allegations.
“The highest that he said was during an incident that he restrained her by the arms.
“He agrees to throwing a torch on the ground, and that was the height of his acceptance of these allegations.”
Guest said the allegations were “horrendous” but were “not supported by anything” and were unlikely to result in a successful prosecution.
Magistrate Graham Lee said the allegations were “extremely serious” but after being told the woman
had withdrawn the complaint he released Maddison with strict bail conditions.
Prosecutors and police are understood to have obtained a subpoena for the woman to testify, but she refused to go to court and the charges were dropped last year.
Then in March she told police Maddison threatened her with a gun while she was holding her child, and new warrants were issued.
These warrants led Constable Forte to follow Maddison, ending with the officer’s murder.