Brett Forte inquest live updates: ‘It was like something out of the streets of Beirut’

“There was a snow job being done on me, I was trying to play the game, I was … asking these questions I was allowed to ask. You try being a senior constable female in that environment.

“My life was made a living hell for asking questions.

“I was hearing different stories and different versions. I was told: ‘Nobody knew about the automatic gunfire and it was all just a coincidence’.

“But it came to a point where it became painfully obvious that was not the case.”

The witness says Maddison threatened to open fire and “cut [people] in half” when he thought heavily-armed police were moving close to his shed stronghold during the siege.

Checks were done each time and no police officers on Maddison’s property were moving.

“He said something like: ‘I can see someone in the field, I’m going to cut them in half’,” he says.

“Maddison also made threats he had laid IEDs [improvised explosive devices] and booby traps in the bushland [around his stronghold].”

The officer says Maddison’s weapon, an SKS rifle, and his ammunition were not normal.

“Apart from being semi-auto or fully-auto, they fire Chinese-made rounds have a solid steel core and that is an extremely difficult round to stop,” he says.

“With the threat Maddison posed, armoured vehicles were the only way we were going to contain him.”

(For context, a “466” is a form police officers fill in if they want to make a misconduct complaint against another officer. It is sent to the Crime and Corruption Commission and the police service’s internal Ethical Standards Command.)

“So not only was I dealing with the death of my mate, I was dealing with shit from other officers.

“I’m a dedicated police officer. I’m proud of what I do.

“I’m proud of my brothers and sisters in blue.

“But we have to change cultures, we have to do better, this can not happen again.”

Senior Constable Nielsen is asked whether ballistic vests, reinforced windscreens in police vehicles and improved first aids kits would have made a difference.

“Ballistic vests may help, but I know that they would not have helped [Brett, given where he was shot on his body],” she says.

“But when there’s people with weapons, it’s every day, all around Toowoomba and Queensland. We are faced with this more and more.”

Senior Constable Nielsen says reinforced windscreens would “have given us a bit more time” to get away from Maddison’s barrage of gunfire. Six of his bullets penetrated the police vehicle’s cabin.

Improved first aid kits were rolled out by the Queensland Police Service for their police vehicles shortly after Senior Constable Forte’s death.

“I got the glass out of the way in case I had to shoot again. I could still hear gunfire, but because we were in the forest it was very confusing [where it was coming from].

“I couldn’t lift Bretty, the car was a mess - it was like something out of the streets of Beirut.

“I realised there was a huge amount of blood and his arm was a mess. I wasn’t sure if he had been shot or banged his head on the car, he was making groaning noises.”

Senior Constable Nielsen said she helped smashed the windscreen to get Senior Constable Forte out, put him in the recovery position and kept talking to him as first aid and CPR was performed.

“I knew his best form of first aid was getting out of there …,” she said.

“We put him in the back of the [other police] car, and we were still under fire … his [Maddison’s] gunfire was relentless.″⁣

“He was rambling and volatile … I was trying to settle him down and talk about it … but he was very angry,” she says.

“He was swearing a lot, saying he had no phone, no money, no car, police had taken everything away from him … [including] his family and friends.”

Senior Constable Nielsen says, in the lead-up to the pursuit, she and Senior Constable Forte knew Maddison was classified as dangerous and may have a firearm.

“I had nothing directly to do with Ricky Maddison, but I knew about the 2015 [domestic violence] charges,” she says.

“I know there were some concerns of [police] inaction around Ricky Maddison.

“We didn’t really know what was going on, we just did what we were told, so to speak.”

Inspector Sharee Cumming was one of the on-scene commanders and remained at the scene during negotiations. She recounted Maddison’s mood swings during the siege.

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

Maddison’s friend, Adam Byatt, admitted he bought the gunman a mobile phone and registered it in his own name, but denied he was trying to cover up criminal activity or deceive police.

“He [Maddison] was a proud man and he was broke, so I provided him with a phone,” he said.

Detective Senior Sergeant Anthony Buxton, part of the police service’s Ethical Standards Command inquiry, told the coronial inquest last week that Maddison was “quite depressed about his life”.