Lindt Cafe siege sniper sues NSW Police for negligence alleging lives could have been saved
The family of slain Lindt Cafe manager Tori Johnson have accused police of a “cover-up” as the chief sniper sues the force for negligence.
The family of slain Lindt Cafe manager Tori Johnson have accused police of a “cover-up” as the chief sniper sues the force for negligence.
“We are still paralysed by the fact that despite the failures and bungles revealed in the inquest there have been no consequences for anybody,” Mr Johnson’s mother Rosie Connellan and his boyfriend Thomas Zinn said today.
The sniper, who was medically discharged from the police but can still only be identified by his codename Sierra 3-1, believes he could have saved 34-year-old Mr Johnson’s life by taking a shot through the cafe window at terrorist Man Monis.
He is suing NSW Police for negligence claiming he and other officers were not allowed to do their jobs the way they were trained.
Barrister and mother Katrina Dawson, 38, died after being hit by fragments of police bullets as the cafe was stormed after Mr Johnson was shot dead.
Ms Dawson’s family has tonight released a statement saying: “We do not think we should comment on a case which is yet to be decided by the courts. As our family said in our submissions to the Inquest into the Lindt Cafe Siege, it is clear that poor decisions by inadequate police leadership led to the deaths of Katrina and Tori. We, and many others, live with the impact of those decisions every day, without any acknowledgement of their tragic consequences from those who made them.”
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The inquest into the siege was told there were mistakes made all the way through and Sierra 3-1’s civil action is expected to reinvestigate the orders at least as they affected him.
“Tori & Katrina lost their lives and the responsible people in the police force and government seem untouchable for the grave mistakes made,” Mr Zinn and Ms Connellan told The Daily Telegraph in a statement today.
“The inquest found intentional reluctance to interfere and catastrophic failure of procedures and equipment on a large scale.
“And everybody walks away … not even saying sorry. How would this make you feel? It is not only one of the biggest cover ups of all times but also one of the biggest injustice — and it looks like they are getting away with it. “
Senior police did not give the go-ahead to storm the cafe and end the 17-hour standoff until after the third shot was fired by Monis, killing Mr Johnson.
At 2.13.22am on December 16, 2014, Sierra 3-1 radioed: “Sierra … white window 2 … hostage down.”
He was on the first floor of the Westpac building. His call was repeated by a sniper in the Channel 7 building.
In his findings, former State Coroner Michael Barnes said that 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.
After the findings were delivered, NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller told reporters “in hindsight, NSW Police should have gone in earlier”. Police had feared Monis had a bomb.
“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.”
‘Nightmares’: Lindt siege sniper sues Police over ‘failures’
The chief sniper during the Lindt siege is suing NSW Police for negligence claiming he and other officers were not allowed to do their jobs the way they were trained.
He alleges if proper procedures had been followed cafe manager Tori Johnson and barrister Katrina Dawson’s lives could have been saved.
In a 30-page affidavit the officer — who can only be identified as Sierra 3-1 — claims he has suffered psychological trauma because of the decisions taken by his superiors during the siege.
Soon after the inquest Sierra 3-1 made a complaint to the Law Enforcement Conduct Commissioner claiming senior officers perjured themselves at the inquest.
That complaint was dismissed.
He suffers continual flashbacks and nightmares including seeing Mr Johnson killed by a shotgun blast to the head.
The civil action was lodged in the NSW District Court on April 12 for a one-day hearing next year. There is also another unrelated incident he is suing over.
The case will re-examine many aspects of the siege which saw a number of flaws exposed in police procedure and led to a damning coronial report.
Mr Johnson, 34 and barrister and mother Ms Dawson 38, died during the siege which began when gunman Man Monis took 17 people hostage in Martin Place on December 15, 2014.
The siege ended at 2am the next day when Monis executed Mr Johnson and police stormed the cafe shooting him dead while fragments from bullets killed Ms Dawson. During an inquest in 2016 the marksman was critical of his bosses.
“The way we trained for incidents like this is for the sniper co-ordinator to be in the command post. I asked to perform that role on this occasion, but I didn’t,” he said.
“My point to the debrief was … we need to play how we train,” the then-sergeant said.
The officer was medically discharged from the force in March of 2017.
“It was a big decision for him to take this action, both to make a complaint against his then bosses and to take civil action',” said a relative of Sierra 3-1. “He believes Tori Johnson’s life was savable and says that in his affidavit.”
The relative said his statement contains other “explosive”' information about the actions of many senior police on the night.
The officer himself refused to comment to the Telegraph.
During the inquest he claimed senior police did not follow the proper plans put in place for such an incident and also gave a graphic account of the events leading up to the execution of Mr Johnson and the lack of response from the command post.
“I saw Tori take up a kneeling position in proximity of window two,” Sierra 3-1 told the inquests held in 2016.
“He was facing towards the main door so I could see his left side. (Mr Johnson) had both hands interlocked on top of his head.”
The inquest heard of repeated communication problems on the night and how Sierra 3-1 radioed just after 2am that Mr Johnson was on his knees but did not receive any response.
“I remember hearing a shot fired and seeing a muzzle flash and seeing Tori flinch,” Sierra 3-1 said.
“And by flinch I mean drop down momentarily from his position. But he resumed the position after that.”
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