Vadim de Waart-Hottart: Fallen Victoria Police officer honoured as first photos from funeral emerge

Devastating details about Sen. Const. Vadim de Waart-Hottart, the young police officer who was killed in a shooting in Victoria last week, have been revealed at his emotional funeral.

More than a thousand officers have arrived at the Victorian Police Academy in Melbourne to farewell the 35-year-old.

Sen. Const. de Waart-Hottart was shot in cold blood on August 26, allegedly by self-proclaimed sovereign citizen Dezi Freeman, who remains at large.

The slain cop, who has been remembered as an eternal optimist with the world at his feet, moved from Belgium to join Victoria Police for what was shaping up as a long, successful career until his life was tragically cut short in the line of duty.

He was fluent in four languages and was 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.

A table was set up in the chapel with medals, which Sen. Const. de Waart-Hottart will be awarded, along with a statue of Batman, a childhood favourite.

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.

Photos show large crowds of uniformed police in a sea of blue gathered outside the chapel.

The chapel’s capacity was doubled from 500 people to more than 1000 people, but it still wasn’t enough, with officers spilling into hallways and overflow rooms.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was pictured entering the service alongside Victorian Police Commissioner Mike Bush and Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan.

The 35-year-old will posthumously receive the Victoria Police Star Medal, which is awarded when an officer is seriously injured or killed in the line of duty, 7NEWS reports.

Heartbroken parents, Carolina and Alain, have flown from Belgium to farewell their son, while his brother, Sacha, has flown from Switzerland.

The close-knit family wiped away tears and embraced each other during the emotional service attended by hundreds of mourners.

Sacha told the packed chapel in an emotional eulogy that his brother had always been his “hero” and “protector”.

He described him as the “happiest person I knew” and said he had a “contagious smile”.

“For those that knew my brother, I’m sorry for your loss because you knew the joy and happiness he brought into our lives on a daily basis, that’s why we’re here today,” he said.

“I want to celebrate his life…not how he left us, because my brother was just this ray of sunshine.

“Because nothing can take away the sunshine my brother has been to everyone here, nothing can take that away from us.

“I really want you to remember Vadim for the way he lived, not for the way he died.”

Cousin Jeremy Dellavedova read aloud a statement written by Sen. Const. de Waart-Hottart’s mother, Carolina.

She described her son as a “beautiful, kind, wise and joyful boy”.

“Vadim is everywhere now in the ether, in the divine, in the light,” she said.

“Vadim will live among us as a soft breeze on the cheek.”

A colleague and former housemate of Sen. Const. de Waart-Hottart also spoke.

““He wasn’t just a colleague, he was a friend and he was my brother,” Constable Tali Walker-Davidson said.

“He always saw the good in everyone and everything, except for his early morning starts.”

The pair met in 2020 at work at the St Kilda Police Station.

“He was honest, hilarious and never took himself too seriously,” she said.

The Police Air Wing will perform a flyover as his colleagues line the surrounding streets and form a guard of honour as he is taken on one final journey to his resting place.

The policing family will again mourn a colleague gone far too soon when Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson is farewelled with full honours on Monday.

- With AAP