Lindt Cafe siege inquest findings: ‘the deaths were not the fault of police’
IT’S been years coming, but the Lindt Cafe siege survivors and the families of those killed have finally got an official answer to why things went so wrong.
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THE Lindt Cafe siege gunman was a “vicious maniac (with a) severe personality disorder”, a scathing coroner’s report has found.
NSW Coroner Michael Barnes this morning delivered the findings from the inquest into the deaths arising from the Lindt Cafe siege in Martin Place on December 15, 2014.
He described gunman Man Haron Monis as a “vicious maniac (who) oscillated between feigning regard for (the hostages’) welfare and threatening to blow them apart”.
“The terror they endured could fairly be described as torture,” the coroner said.
Mr Barnes told a packed the courtroom at Sydney’s John Maddison Tower that a psychiatrist called in by police gave erroneous assessments of the situation inside the cafe and issued ambiguous advice, which contributed to police underestimating the threat Monis posed.
The coroner said the siege “would have challenged any police force in the world”.
Lindt Cafe manager Tori Johnson, 34, was one of 18 people held hostage for 17 hours before he was shot at point blank range by gunman Man Haron Monis, 50, at 2.13am on December 16.
Police stormed the cafe 59 seconds later and killed Monis.
Mother and barrister Katrina Dawson, 38, was killed by a fragment of a police bullet in the crossfire.
Throughout the inquest — which started six weeks after the siege — police were heavily criticised for not storming the stronghold before hostages were killed.
“The deaths and injuries that occurred as a result of the siege were not the fault of police,” Mr Barnes said.
“All of the blame for those rests with (gunman) Man Haron Monis.
“He created the intensely dangerous situation, he maliciously executed Tori Johnson, he barricaded himself into a corner of the cafe and his actions forced police to enter the cafe in circumstances where the risk of hostages being wounded or killed was very high.”
'This event would have challenged any police force in the world,' coroner. #lindtsiege #sydneysiege @newscomauHQ
— Megan Palin (@Megan_Palin) May 24, 2017
But Mr Barnes said “mistakes can’t be papered over if outcomes and public safety are to be improved”.
Some of the most controversial evidence tendered during the inquest related to the police response with the probe hearing vital information wasn’t passed on to commanders quickly enough and resources were lacking.
In his findings, the coroner said emergency action “should have been initiated” by tactical police when Monis fired shots at fleeing hostages at 2.03am on December 16. “The 10 minutes that lapsed without decisive action by police was too long,” Mr Barnes said.
Police commanders previously told the inquest they held off sending tactical officers into the cafe earlier because of concerns the gunman had a bomb in his backpack.
He said the first shot “made it clear there was little to no chance of resolving the siege” and that hostages inside were still at “extreme risk of harm”.
“Tori Johnson was executed in the meantime before the decision to enter the cafe was made,” Mr Barnes said.
After the findings were delivered, NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller told reporters that “in hindsight, NSW Police should have gone in earlier”.
“I accept the criticisms,” he said.
“As first commander I believed there was a bomb.
“It’s too easy (in hindsight) to dismiss the bomb.”
Among those in court for the inquest findings were Ms Dawson’s parents Sandy and Jane Dawson and brother Angus Dawson, and Mr Johnson’s partner Thomas Zinn, mother Rosie Connellan and father Ken Johnson.
They sat through the long-running inquest — which heard from dozens witnesses over 23 weeks of hearings — for most of the hearings.
READ: The Lindt Café tragedy one year on
Mr Barnes determined the siege was a “terrorist incident” but said it was not known if Monis was “motivated by IS ... or used its reputation to bolster his agenda”.
Monis was on ASIO’s radar but there was nothing, even in his confronting Facebook posts a week before the Lindt Cafe siege, to indicate what was about to happen, according to the coroner.
READ: Hostage’s triple-0 call
READ: Text messages from inside the cafe
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Mr Barnes said Australia’s national security agency had justifiably labelled Monis a serial pest, and its assessments of him were adequate and appropriate.
Eighteen reports to the national security hotline about Monis’ public Facebook page in the week before the December 2014 siege had not been fully assessed and remained “open” at the time of the incident.
“While Monis’ public Facebook page did contain confronting and provocative content, there was nothing indicative of a desire or intent to undertake an act of politically-motivated violence nor suggestive of a capability to do so,” Mr Barnes said.
READ: Hostage Paolo Vassallo talks about emotional impact of ordeal
READ: Five biggest revelations from Sydney siege inquest
READ: Hostage thought it was a prank when gunman pulled gun
READ: Hostage’s ‘last cry for help’
READ: Inside the mind of Monis
Then NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione, Deputy Commissioner Catherine Burn and Assistant Commissioner Jeff Loy had previously been grilled on the stand about allegedly interfering inappropriately with operational matters during the siege. But today Mr Barnes cleared them of any wrongdoing.
Mr Barnes also rejected the view of some commentators that the Australian Defence Force should have assumed responsibility for the siege. “With all due respect to those of that view, it is simplistic and unrealistic,” he said.
He said there are legal obstacles to the ADF carrying out armed domestic action and the Lindt Cafe siege was not one of the situations where that could take place.
READ: The terrible toll on those left behind
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READ: Why police didn’t storm the cafe earlier
READ: The mental state of Man Monis
READ: Top cop describes hostages as ‘jovial’
THE CORONER’S RECOMMENDATIONS
The coroner’s 600-page report contained 45 recommendations including the NSW Police force conduct a review of training for negotiators.
Mr Barnes also made recommendations for improvement of the assessment of politically-motivated violence and inter-agency information sharing and co-operation.
Attorney-General George Brandis has spoken to ASIO chief Duncan Lewis and Australian Federal Police commissioner Mark Colvin about the coroner’s recommendations and findings.
Senator Brandis will make a statement to the Senate’s legal and constitutional affairs committee later on Wednesday.
TORI JOHNSON’S FAMILY SPEAK OUTSIDE INQUEST
Outside court, Mr Johnson’s partner, Thomas Zinn, said the inquest had exposed a series of inadequacies by authorities.
“We were confronted with a systematic failure of various authorities, who at times were confused, ill-informed, unprepared and under-resourced to deal with Monis,” Mr Zinn told reporters.
“Two and a half years ago we could not have imagined what was lying ahead of us and what was going to be revealed in this inquest,” Mr Zinn said.
“Throughout the inquest, one shocking discovery followed the next.” Despite the “failures of various authorities”.
Mr Zinn said the family had a “high regard and respect” for the officers who put their lives at risk.
“We acknowledge the grief and trauma they have experienced,” he said.
Mr Zinn said the family would now review the findings in detail to see if their questions had been answered and submissions considered.
“Everybody who knew Tori would agree that we lost a guardian angel that night,” he said.
“The pain deep in our hearts from losing Tori is as strong now as it was in December 2014.”
Mr Johnson’s father Ken spoke briefly, saying: “Tori’s act of bravery is testimony that we are capable of love, peace and tolerance.”
READ: Desperate final texts from victim Tori Johnson
READ: Why gunman failed to spark police action
READ: Pressure mounts on top cop Mark Jenkins
READ: Shocking reason calls from hostages weren’t answered
READ: Training for negotiators cut back before Sydney siege
For Mr Johnson and Ms Dawson’s families, the lengthy inquest process has been painful, particularly hearing that the death of a hostage was set as the trigger for officers to launch their assault.
“It’s outrageous,” Ms Dawson’s mother Jane told the ABC’s Four Corners in an interview aired on Monday.
READ: Top cop rejected plan to storm cafe
READ: 3D reconstruction of Sydney siege
READ: Tori Johnson’s mother storms out of inquest
READ: Monis’ head ‘burst like a balloon’
READ: Officer hit by shrapnel thought he had died
WHY WAS MONIS OUT ON BAIL?
The families of Mr Johnson and Ms Dawson criticised police and the Director of Public Prosecutions just days before inquest findings were released. In an interview with the ABC’s Four Corners, the families also questioned the influence of a psychiatrist, who had thought Monis didn’t want to kill despite facing 40 serious charges for sex offences and accessory to the murder of his estranged wife.
Monis was freed on bail in December, 2013 after being charged with the crimes.
Mr Barnes today said oral submissions of the ODPP solicitor who opposed Monis’ application for bail were inadequate and the lawyer should have filed written submissions opposing it.
In his findings, Mr Barnes said police made a mistake by failing to arrest Monis when 37 new sex offence charges were laid two months before the fatal siege.
According to the coroner, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and police didn’t realised that some of those new offences occurred while Monis was on bail on Commonwealth charges for sending offensive letters to the families of dead Australian soldiers.
That information could have seen Monis refused bail prior to the siege.
But the coroner concluded that those involved in the bail decisions were not responsible for the gunman’s ultimate actions and subsequent deaths. “He alone was to blame for the deaths,” Mr Barnes wrote in his final report, released on Wednesday.
READ: Commander breaks down in tears at inquest
READ: Sniper tells of watching hostage die
READ: Rare insight into the job of Australia’s police snipers
READ: Lindt Café siege CCTV footage
READ: Inside the Lindt Café after police killed Monis
The anticipation of adverse findings fuelled a fiery pre-emptive defence from the Police Association of NSW, whose acting president Tony King published a 3400-word attack on Monday.
“This inquest has failed the community by becoming a witch-hunt into policing rather than a sober, level-headed search for the truth,” he wrote.
Former Lindt Cafe siege hostage Louisa Hope — who has become a familiar face at the inquest over the past 18 months — addressed Mr King’s comments as she left the court today.
“We don’t at all feel that the police are under attack or unnecessarily harassed,” she said.
“When it comes to something like the coroner’s report it is necessary that we have critical analysis around all of our institutions and government departments.
“Critical analysis is not a bad thing it is good for all of us, as we all try to negotiate living in this new age of terror, we all need to consider new things and new ways and as a community we all come together and support our police.
“So there will be things to be reviewed and considered it is nothing to be afraid of and that we will work together, I am sure, as a community to support our going forward.”
Ms Hope — who was used by the gunman as a human shield during the siege — had some final words before she walked away from the inquest for the last time.
“It is really a wonderful thing that this over now, it has been a very stressful time as you would understand and getting back to normal will be lovely,’ she said.
READ: The cop who killed Monis
READ: What role did top cops play?
READ: Fiery exchange at Sydney siege inquest
READ: Why it all went wrong
READ: A litany of missed chances to save hostages
Originally published as Lindt Cafe siege inquest findings: ‘the deaths were not the fault of police’
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