Sydney siege victim Tori Johnson’s sister appears on The Project

THE sister of Lindt Cafe manager Tori Johnson who was killed during the Sydney siege, has paid tribute to him one year after the terrifying event.

THE sister of Lindt Cafe manager Tori Johnson, who was shot dead by Sydney siege gunman Man Monis, has paid tribute to her ‘heroic’ brother on the one year anniversary of his death.

Appearing on The Project, Camille Piazza revealed the heartbreaking moment she found out she lost her brother, and how she visited the scene of his death for the first time last weekend.

She told hosts Carrie Bickmore, Waleed Aly and Peter Heliar that she was living in Paris at the time Man Monis took her brother hostage and was unable to comprehend the news.

“I remember just getting the message from my mum, who I just had previously spoken to via Skype for a good two hours,” she revealed on The Project tonight. “I get a message ten minutes later and I couldn’t comprehend what I was reading until I looked online. And immediately I had floods of messages and friends contacting me.”

Ms Piazza explained the following 24 hours were “very painful” as she made her way back to Australia to be with her family.

She described her brother as an “incredibly gentle, generous, and kind” man who was “very silly, very funny” but was also the “most beautiful big brother”.

She also said he was the type of person who always put other people’s needs before his saying his actions on that day were “innately Tori”.

Camille Piazza on The Project.

Mr Johnson was shot in the back of the head by Monis after being held captive for 17 hours.

During an inquest earlier this year it was revealed Mr Johnson closed the cafe after sensing Monis was agitated.

He reportedly told a staff member to fetch his keys and lock the cafe’s doors, saying: “Everything is OK, tell the staff to be calm.”

When asked if she had been to the Lindt Cafe, Ms Piazza revealed that she had only visited on Sunday.

“I went for the first time just on Sunday,” she said. “I don’t really know what led me there.

“But I do. And I found myself at the front of that cafe and outside those doors and those walls and I felt very heavy, I didn’t understand, you know, why I was there until I kind of went inside and was able to get in.

“It was around 6:45 on Sunday evening and they were closing up the cafe and there were three of the people there that were there with Tori that night. And I just thought I was meant to come and I had to meet them. And embrace them. And they embraced me. And I’m really happy and relieved that I was able to do that for myself and for my family and (I felt that) Tori was so present.”

Ms Piazza, who remained composed throughout the interviewed until the very end, also revealed her family were overwhelmed by the flowers in Martin Place last year revealing that her brother had campaigned for years to have more flowers and plants in the city and that he would have loved the sea of flowers that were laid in tribute to him and Katrina Dawson who was also killed during the siege by a stray police bullet.