Lindt siege: Missing texts from Catherine Burn to shed light on terror incident

MISSING text messages sent by Deputy Commissioner Cath Burn during the Lindt Cafe siege are urgently being tracked down by the police’s telco provider.

MISSING text messages sent by Deputy Commissioner Cath Burn during and soon after the Lindt Cafe siege are urgently being tracked down by the police force’s telecommunications provider.

Counter-terrorism chief Ms Burn and her boss, Commissioner Andrew Scipione, have said they played no role in the siege but counsel assisting the siege inquest, Jeremy Gormly SC, said yesterday he was concerned about the absence of her texts.

With Ms Burn due to give evidence on Monday, steps are being taken to retrieve the SMS messages between her and other officers from the telco’s server, Mr Gormly said.

NSW Deputy Police Commissioner Cath Burn said she only counsel assisted during the siege. Picture: Justin Lloyd

She has changed her handset since the deadly December 2014 standoff and the families of the two slain hostages are interested in two particular text messages sent at 2.44am and 3.28am on December 16. The contents of those texts were not revealed yesterday but counsel for murdered cafe manager Tori Johnson, Phillip Boulten SC, said they could “shed light” on events.

The siege ended just minutes earlier, at 2.13am, when police stormed the cafe after terrorist Man Monis shot dead cafe manager Tori Johnson. Barrister Katrina Dawson died after being hit by police bullet fragments.

Mr Gormly said that, if the texts could not be retrieved, Ms Burn would be asked about them.

This is the latest controversy to embroil Ms Burn, who is being called as a witness after pressure from the families of Ms Dawson and Mr Johnson.

Man Monis was behind the attack that left two hostages dead.

She will also be quizzed about a call at 10.50pm on December 15 to the commander in charge of the siege, Assistant Commissioner Mark Jenkins, during which he said they discussed negotiations, which had reached stalemate. NSW State Coroner Michael Barnes is seeking to determine if the state’s most senior police officers inappropriately played any operational role in the siege, or failed to intervene when they should have.

Counsel for the police, Dr Ian Freckelton SC, said officers did not make key decisions via text messages.

Tori Johnson (right) and his partner Thomas Zinn. Johnson was killed when he was executed by Monis. Picture: Facebook

However Mr Boulten said just because the SMS messages were sent after the siege ended did not mean they were not pertinent to the inquest: “They’re very proximate and it’s likely they’re going to be about the mechanics either during the siege or immediately after.

“They can shed light on what has been happening.”

Counsel for Mr Johnson’s family, Gabrielle Bashir SC, said the texts could be highly relevant.