An avid traveller with the world at his feet, Senior Constable Vadim De Waart-Hottart should be plotting his next holiday adventure.
Instead, policing colleagues will form a guard of honour as the 35-year-old is taken on one final journey to his resting place.
The 35-year-old Belgian native moved across the globe to join Victoria Police for what was shaping up to be a long, successful career until his life was tragically cut short in the line of duty.
His colleague, Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson, was also killed, while another officer was badly injured in a violent confrontation with Dezi Freeman while they were serving him a warrant last week.
Sen Const De Waart-Hottart had recently arrived in Wangaratta in Victoria’s high country for what was meant to be a temporary assignment from his role in the public order response team.
Described as an eternal optimist by colleagues in the force, he was fluent in four languages and proud to have purchased his first home in Melbourne in recent years.
An accomplished scuba diver who always picked up a bottle of local gin on his international adventures, closer to home, he revelled in motorcycle trips with friends and colleagues.
Heartbroken loved ones, friends and colleagues will farewell him at a private funeral on Friday at the Victoria Police Academy in Melbourne’s east – the same place he started his police career just seven years ago.
The Police Air Wing will perform a flyover as his colleagues line the surrounding streets and pay their respects following the service.
Snr Const De Waart is survived by his parents, Carolina and Alain, who live in Belgium, and his Switzerland-based younger brother, Sacha.
He also leaves behind aunties, uncles and cousins in Melbourne.
The policing family will again mourn a colleague gone far too soon when Det Lead Snr Const Thompson is farewelled with full honours on Monday.
Both funerals are private and members of the public have been asked not to attend.
Hundreds of Victoria Police members and Australian Defence Force personnel continue to scour the high country looking for Freeman, who fled into bushland after the incident at Porepunkah, 300km northeast of Melbourne.
Investigators believe he is alive, prompting the force and his wife to issue pleas for him to give himself up through a surrender plan.
More than 100 properties in the Alpine area have been searched and police believe people possibly know where Freeman is hiding out.
He shares views consistent with the sovereign citizen movement and is considered to be an experienced bushman, with experts suspecting he has deposits of food and water stashed around his local area.
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