Brett Forte inquest live updates: Final hearing day of first week

The end of Inspector Sharee Cumming’s testimony also brings an end to the coronial inquest for today, with no more witnesses scheduled.

The inquest will not sit tomorrow because it is a public holiday here for the Toowoomba Royal Agricultural Show. So the hearings will resume on Monday morning.

Before Inspector Cumming, there was powerful evidence from Detective Senior Sergeant Anthony Buxton - part of the police service’s Ethical Standards Command inquiry into the deaths of Senior Constable Brett Forte and his killer Ricky Maddison.

He spoke about Maddison’s reaction to the news he had killed Senior Constable Forte, the police tactics during the siege involving Maddison, and Maddison’s death.

A police commander, who took charge during the aftermath of Senior Constable Brett Forte’s shooting and 20-hour siege of Ricky Maddison, recounts the negotiations with the gunman.

Inspector Sharee Cumming was one of the on-scene commanders as Senior Constable Forte was being treated by his colleagues on the roadside and she remained at the scene during negotiations.

“One moment he [Maddison] would be really, really angry, then next moment he would be sitting there conversing quite calmly,” she tells the inquest.

Regarding the incident as a whole, Inspector Cumming says it was “unprecedented” and she admits there were things she could have done differently upon reflection.

A senior police officer tells the inquest when she reached the ambush site, she heard officers “calling out encouragement to each other and Brett [Forte, the officer who had been shot]” while two of his colleagues tried to revive him.

Inspector Sharee Cumming was one of the on-scene commanders in the aftermath of Maddison shooting Senior Constable Forte.

Inspector Cumming tells the inquest that when she arrived, she was confronted by a “chaotic” scene, with officers crouched behind their vehicles, weapons drawn and pointed into the vast bushland.

“Senior Constable Forte was in a culvert on the side of the road and two officers were doing CPR on him ... other police officers were calling out encouragement to each other and Brett,” she says.

The final moments of gunman Ricky Maddison included him shooting at an armoured police car with officers inside, before charging at police and taking a bullet to the chest that ended the siege.

Detective Senior Sergeant Anthony Buxton, part of the police service’s Ethical Standards Command inquiry, says Maddison was initially wounded in the shoulder as a result of police returning fire.

“He discharged about 30 automatic rounds towards the SERT [Special Emergency Response Team] vehicle and he hit the tyres,” he says.

“There were two SERT operators inside at the time, one just outside the vehicle and another in the vehicle’s turret.

“SERT returned fire and Maddison was shot in shoulder, but it was a superficial wound.”

Detective Senior Sergeant Anthony Buxton, part of the police service’s Ethical Standards Command inquiry, recounts to the inquest Ricky Maddison’s rollercoaster of emotions during negotiations.

At one point, he told police negotiators: “You’ll run out of ammunition before I do.”

When heavily-armed police officers and negotiators approached Maddison’s stronghold in an armoured vehicle, called the Bombcat, the gunman fired two bursts and yelled: “F--- off.”

Later that evening, a few hours after Senior Constable Forte had died, police got a mobile phone to Maddison and started negotiations.

The legal chaos that stunted the inquest’s progress on Tuesday centred on Senior Constable Brett Forte’s widow, Susan.

Lawyers acting for testifying police officers requested Mrs Forte write a new statement and disclose any further concerns or pieces of information she planned to put forward in the remaining six days.

Lawyers representing police officers who have testified so far raised concerns about the questioning of their clients by Mrs Forte’s counsel, David Funch.

They described some of Mr Funch’s questions as “ambushing witnesses” because the information or conversations he asked the officers about had not been disclosed to them before the inquest.