Lindt siege: Man Monis may have been working with an accomplice, inquest hears
THE Lindt Siege inquest has been played dramatic footage showing hostage Marcia Mikhael gesturing to first police responder Paul Withers as businessmen walk by unaware of the drama unfolding metres from them.
HIGHWAY Patrol officer Paul Withers was the first officer to survey the awful scene.
Senior-Constable Withers parked his bike in Martin Place and walked into the foyer that the Lindt Cafe shares with a barristers’ chambers, where he saw hostage Marcia Mikhael standing with her hands up at the glass doors, ordered there by gunman Man Monis.
It was about 9.49am, just after the triple-0 call made from the cafe by manager Tori Johnson. CCTV footage played at the inquest yesterday showed the officer, his sunglasses pushed up on to his head, peering at the doors from behind a thick column that hid him from everyone else inside the cafe.
Communicating with eye signals, slight hand movements and mouthing words, a visibly upset Ms Mikhail was able to tell him there was one gunman and where in the cafe he was.
At one stage, Snr-Const. Withers was called out to put on a bulletproof vest before returning to the foyer and continuing to communicate with Ms Mikhail — passing on her information using signals to officers outside.
By 10am elite officers from the Tactical Operations Unit were on their way and the city had gone into lockdown. At 11am following a phone conference between senior police and Commissioner Andrew Scipione, the incident was declared an act of terrorism and special protocols were in place.
DID MONIS HAVE AN ACCOMPLICE?
MARTIN Place gunman Man Monis may have been working with an accomplice who drove him to the scene of the deadly siege, the inquest into the attack was told yesterday.
Investigators have found no trace of his movements on CCTV footage from trains or buses and there were no sightings of him using taxis to travel from his Wiley Park home to the Lindt cafe on December 15, 2014.
All local hotels had been canvassed by police, with no trace of Monis having stayed in any of them or being shown on their CCTV cameras.
OTHER NEWS: FAMED CHICKEN SHOP ON NAME AND SHAME FILE
“There is a real possibility he was dropped in the city in a car driven by persons or a person unknown,” counsel assisting the inquest Jeremy Gormly SC said yesterday.
He said police were still investigating who that person may have been.
As the inquest resumed yesterday in Sydney it was also revealed that before the siege began Monis had asked staff member Fiona Ma, 19, to keep an eye on his backpack — which he left at his table while he went to the toilet.
Inside the backpack was his sawn-off shotgun, which he drew out soon after and pointed at cafe manager Tori Johnson.
“Given the presence of the gun in the backpack, one would expect that he would not have left it out of his sight,” Mr Gormly said.
At the start of what is expected to be the final two-month sitting of the inquest, Mr Gormly said Monis had last been seen on the evening of Sunday, December 14 leaving a friend’s black Jeep outside her house and it is assumed he spent that night at home.
At 8.26am on Monday he was picked up on CCTV striding confidently and “with resolve” through Martin Place towards the Lindt cafe.
As some of the hostages including Selina Win Pe and Louisa Hope listened in the back of the courtroom, Mr Gormly said there was evidence that Monis may have — “ominously” — been planning the siege for up to two months. In October 2014, using another person’s name, he bought a Samsung mobile — which he did not use until the siege began. The handwritten note he ordered cafe manager Tori Johnson to read out to a triple-0 operator may have been written weeks earlier.
On the afternoon of December 13 Monis withdrew all his money — a total of $850 — from ATMs in Beamish St, Campsie, and bought his $70 black Camel Mountain-brand backpack from a local accessories store.
Only $220 cash was found on him after he was shot dead by police who stormed the cafe to end the siege and Mr Gormly said he may have spent the rest on the shotgun and ammunition.
Monis tricked the terrified hostages into believing he had a bomb in the backpack but it turned out to be a Technics speaker with wires attached and poking out.
He was also armed with a silver paring knife, which he never used. In a photograph shown to the inquest, the knife has a spot of Monis’s blood on it, which had leaked through the backpack.
The inquest has been told how police have accounted for every shot fired during the end of the siege after Tori Johnson was executed by Monis and barrister Katrina Dawson died in crossfire. Monis was shot dead by police.
The surviving hostages will give evidence later this week.
CHILLING CALL TOLD OF ISIS ARRIVAL
Janet Fife-Yeomans
WITH a sawn-off shotgun pointed at him, Lindt cafe manager Tori Johnson tried to warn of a terrorist attack while the triple-0 operator quizzed him on the nearest cross street.
The chilling emergency call, played for the first time yesterday at the inquest into the deadly siege, recorded Mr Johnson, 34, trying to read out a handwritten message from gunman Man Monis.
It was at 9.44am on Monday, December 15 when Monis, who had been in the Martin Place cafe for longer an hour, ordered Mr Johnson (below) to make the call. The cafe manager told the operator he was on the corner of Martin Place and Phillip St.
“Is that in Martin Place or Sydney?” the operator asked.
“OK, so that’s in Sydney. Do you know the next cross street to where you are?”
Mr Johnson: “The cross street is Martin Place and Phillip St.”
Operator: “But is Martin Place actually a, it’s not actually a street.”
Mr Johnson: “Martin Place is a street, yes. It’s a pedestrian street.”
Operator: “OK, but it’s not actually a road. I need a road.”
Mr Johnson remained calm throughout the exchange and told the operator hostages had been taken and there were bombs at Channel Seven, George St and Circular Quay but she kept him talking until he told her he had a gun in front of him.
“OK,” the operator said.
Mr Johnson’s next words were: “Australia is under attack from Islamic State.”
Counsel for Mr Johnson’s family, Gabby Bashir SC, had argued the call should not be played because it would cause his family more distress but State Coroner Michael Barnes said it was important evidence.
Counsel assisting the inquest, Jeremy Gormly SC, said it demonstrated the calmness and coolness Mr Johnson showed throughout the siege.
He said the call showed Mr Johnson managing the situation through constant interruptions by Monis.
Mr Gormly said Mr Johnson’s control may have caused Monis to treat him differently. He was executed at point blank range by Monis before police stormed the cafe. Barrister Katrina Dawson was killed in the crossfire.
He said police were still investigating who that may have been.
America’s Cup women gearing up for new fight after shock loss
Shocked Australian sailors hugged and cried when bundled out of the women’s America’s Cup. A quick reset and they were gearing up for a new fight - and another crack at winning the event
‘I had no clue’: The 40-1 change who made sporting folklore
It’s the badly believable story of a teenager “with no clue” who was created sporting folklore 40 years ago. Inside the painful and crazy first Coolangatta Gold surf life saving race.