Lindt Cafe siege: Survivor Louisa Hope had no need to forgive terrorist Man Monis because he’s ‘not worth it’

LINDT Cafe siege survivor Louisa Hope says her faith helped her through the trauma of the 17-hour ordeal. She remains supportive of Australia’s multiculturalism and has no need to forgive terrorist Man Monis.

LINDT Cafe siege survivor Louisa Hope says she does not need to forgive Man Monis for what he did because “he’s just not worth it” and her faith has helped her “move through”.

Ms Hope will be talking about “moving on” at the 2016 National Christian Family Conference in Wahroonga on Monday and Tuesday.

She and her mother Robyn were held in the siege, where she suffered a gunshot wound to the foot and spent months recovering in hospital.

Louisa Hope leaving the Lindt Cafe siege inquiry at JMT Sydney. Picture: Craig Greenhill

While in hospital she declined donations made to her via a crowd funding website because she said she did not want to be seen as more worthy of help than others.

“I didn’t feel I was entitled to anything special, more than other hostages,” Ms Hope said.

“I was gobsmacked at the time and grateful for the thoughtfulness but I shut it down because there are so many other worthy causes in the world.”

Ms Hope is not buying into blaming foreigners for our problems, despite being the victim of a terrorist.

“Before I went into the cafe I was a great believer in our glorious multiculturalism and that does not change,” she said.

“If I let experiences like this force me into a place of fear, I would be perhaps not true to what I believe.”

Louisa Hope is taken from the Lindt Cafe on a stretcher suffering an injury to her foot after the siege had ended. Picture: Getty

Asked if she had forgiven Man Monis for using her as a human shield she said: “The question does one forgive assumes­ you have hardened your heart in some way. I never have let Man Monis into that space in my heart to go through that.

“There is no room for me to entangle myself in his own business that led him to make the decisions he did. One could easily say, ‘Yes, I forgive him’, but he’s just not worth it.

“You go through something like that and you can either fall down in a heap or, with the grace of God, stand up and go forward in your life.

One of the Lindt Cafe staff escapes from the siege. Picture: Adam Taylor

“What happened that day didn’t just happen to the hostages, it happened to the whole country.

“The more I’m at the inquest­ and look at the visuals of what happened that day the more I realise it’s an absolute miracle that my mother and I aren’t dead.

“I think one doesn’t actually move on, one moves through. It’s not that you suddenly wake up one morning and it’s all done with.”

The remaining hostages run to safety at the end of the siege. Picture: Bill Hearne

Ms Hope has turned her attention to charity, setting up a fund to help nurses at the Prince of Wales Hospital, where she was treated.

It has raised more than $100,000 so far.

“I was very determined that something good would come out of what happened,” she said. “Being able to put my focus into my nurses fund has been a wonderful experience.”

The theme of forgiveness will be discussed by a panel of speakers in Wahroonga.

The sea of flowers left by Sydneysiders at Martin Place in the week after the Lindt Cafe siege.

Christian Family Conference

Where: Sydney Adventist Hospital Clinical Education Centre, Fox Valley Rd, Wahroonga.

When: July 18 and 19.

Who: Features Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton and Prof Everett Worthington.

Details: 9847 3306 or [e-mail]