Neil Pringle was speaking in Parramatta Court on Friday and sympathised with Sergeant Carter Knyvett and Senior Constable Karen Peasley when recounting the incident that led to his son, Ryan Pringle, being fatally shot.

“Your actions have been scrutinised to the nth degree and I share your pain,” Mr Pringle told the inquest.

“The discharge of your firearm was not only the last resort but was imperative in the deteriorating reasoning of my son.”

The inquest relates to an incident at a commune along Billarimba Road near Tenterfield where police fatally shot 33-year-old Ryan Pringle after he’d become “erratic and unpredictable”.

Mr Pringle made death threats and tormented members of the Rainbow Family spiritual gathering who had congregated for the ‘School of Happiness’ on April 15, 2012.

Nicole Delaine spoke earlier in the week describing how she had snuck away from the campsite, crossing a river and driving 27 kilometres into Tenterfield to alert police.

As a result Sergeant Carter Knyvett and Senior Constable Karen Peasley, a de facto couple, arrived at the scene.

Sergeant Knyvett said his personal relationship with Senior Constable Peasley had not affected his professional judgment.

He said Pringle had initially complied with instructions and surrendered a large carving knife and steel butcher's rod.

“He soon became aggressive, shouting ‘f you, I'm a diplomat’ and ‘this is against international law’ before disappearing into the dark,” Sergeant Knyvett said.

The police officers decided to evacuate the property rather than pursue Mr Pringle.

However, while the officers were helping the campers flee, Pringle re-emerged from the bush armed with a crossbow.

Sergeant Knyvett said Mr Pringle refused repeated commands to drop the weapon and at one point yelled to officers “surrender to me, put your guns on the bonnet of the police car, my friends will come out of the darkness and collect them”.

He proceeded to walk towards the officers, pointing the crossbow at them yelling “I'm going to kill you”.

Senior Constable Peasley cried and cradled her head telling the room that it had all happened “so quickly”. 

“Sergeant Knyvett yelled out, 'Karen, he's got a crossbow' and I was thinking, oh s***,” she said.

“I thought he was going to kill me.”

Sergeant Knyvett said he heard a “whoosh” or a “thwack” which he had believed to be the sound of Mr Pringle shooting the crossbow at Senior Constable Karen Peasley.

The noise was instead Senior Constable Peasley firing her Taser, which missed. 

“I quickly glanced at her and in the corner of my eye I thought she was recoiling backward.

“I thought he had shot her,” Sergeant Knyvett said.

Sergeant Knyvett fired four shots in quick succession after flashing his torch and seeing that Mr Pringle had the crossbow pointed directly at him from 3 metres away.

The court was also played video footage taken after the shooting in which a breathless and sweaty Sgt Knyvett tapes the scene as campers perform CPR on an unconscious Mr Pringle.

“We didn't have a choice,” Sergeant Knyvett can be heard telling them.

At one point, he requests Senior Constable Peasley take the camera so she can record the sight of his bloodied hands.

Pringle’s fiancée Monique Willmann said she had tried distracting him but he was “in a different zone”.

Ms Wilmann who had escaped the campsite with Ms Delaine in search of help, didn’t find out until the following day her fiancée had been shot dead.

Forensic pharmacologist John Farrar said a blood sample revealed concentrations of more than 10 times the prescribed dosage of Mr Pringles anti-psychotic medication.

He had been on the medication to treat schizophrenia, but at the time of his death oxycontin, marijuana, speed, methamphetamine and alcohol were also found in his system.

In concluding the inquest, Acting State Coroner Hugh Dillon cleared both officers of any wrongdoing and praised them for going to “extraordinary lengths” to avoid using lethal force, recommending they both receive medals for their bravery.

“He [Mr Pringle] was a man who had lost his mind and it is a great tragedy that this man who had so many gifts and was so loved lost his mind and as a result lost his life.” Mr Dillon said.

“I hope that a bravery award will be made to Sergeant Knyvett and Sergeant Peasley as recognition not only for their courage and professionalism on this night but also by way of commendation to all country police who undertake very dangerous and lonely duties,” he said.