The former partner of Rick Maddison, the violent criminal who murdered “big-hearted” Queensland police officer Brett Forte with a high-powered machine gun, says she feels partly to blame for the rampage.

The woman, going under the fake name Sarah and wearing a disguise to protect her identity, detailed a relationship of escalating domestic abuse with Maddison on the Seven Network’s Sunday Night program.

“He had me sitting on my knees in front of him. He came over with this jerry can as I’m sitting there and poured petrol on me,” she said.

“I’m sitting there thinking, ‘Oh my god this is it, I’m going to die, I’m never going to see my children again’.”

Sarah said Maddison, 40, threatened to ignite her with a blowtorch for an hour. Two days later she fled and filed a report with police.

Maddison was arrested and charged but later released on bail.

Sarah was too scared to testify against Maddison but a restraining order was put in place and they separated.

More than a year later, Sarah said, Maddison showed up in front of her home and fired a gun in the air in front of her child before leaving.

She said she reported the encounter to police and they began to search for Maddison.

In a twist of fate, Sarah was counselled through the separation by domestic violence liaison officer Senior Constable Susan Forte, the wife of Sen Const Forte, who was one of the tactical crime squad lured into an ambush by Maddison.

Maddison shot and killed Sen Const Brett Forte on May 29 in the Lockyer Valley with a high-powered machine gun.

“If it wasn’t for me and that warrant this wouldn’t have happened,” Sarah said.

“There would still be a police officer, a family man there to go home to.”

Maddison was shot dead by specialist police after a 21-hour siege with authorities on a property west of Brisbane.

Sen Const Forte’s sacrifice led Police Commissioner Ian Stewart to posthumously award him with the force’s highest honour, the Queensland Police Service Valour Award.

– AAP