Sydney siege inquest: Deputy tactical commander breaks down in tears
THE deputy tactical commander during the Sydney siege has spoken through tears about the moment the emergency action plan was initiated.
THE deputy tactical commander during the Sydney siege has revealed through tears that he expected the Lindt Cafe “to blow up” as tactical officers stormed the building to take down the gunman.
The deputy tactical commander, who cannot be identified, was monitoring screens with live feeds showing the cafe foyer and outside of the building when an emergency action plan was initiated at 2.13am on December 16, 2014.
At the inquest into the deaths arising from the siege today, the deputy tactical commander broke down on the stand when he was asked how he felt when the Tactical Operation’s Unit stormed the café and brought the 17-hour ordeal to and end. It was believed Man Haron Monis had a bomb in his backpack at the time.
“I expected the place to blow up … and all those mates not come out,” he said.
“Ordinarily I would have been on one of those teams. At the time I was relieving. It was hard for me to have to watch that happen on the screen … and not be on the team at the time.”
Earlier in the day, the inquest heard that the state’s most senior police will claim they had absolutely nothing to do with the police response to the siege, despite it being Australia’s first major terrorist incident.
NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione, Deputy Commissioner Cath Burn and Acting Deputy Commissioner Jeff Loy have been asked to provide statements about their involvement in the police response to the siege as pressure mounts on them to front the inquest.
Counsel for NSW Police, Ian Freckleton, QC, this morning told the inquest that the position of Mr Scipione, Ms Burn and Mr Loy was “that they did not give any order, direction or provide any guidance or advice in respect of the conduct of the siege on the day”.
“They’ll say that in their statements,” Mr Freckleton said.
“Our position is we cannot identify any forensic utility to you in hearing from each of the witnesses.”
Mr Freckleton said the top cops were prepared to front the inquest if required.
“Each one of them is prepared to come and give evidence if your honour finds it useful for your fact finding exercise,” he said.
The inquest heard the statements from Mr Scipione, Ms Burn and Mr Loy were still in the process of being obtained.
NSW Coroner Michael Barnes will review their statements before it is decided if they will be called to give evidence.
Mr Scipione last month said he would appear if called to the stand.
“We have assisted the inquest from the very start,” he said. “My strong position is that we will do absolutely everything we can to assist them.”
It was previously revealed that Mr Scipione and Ms Burn left command posts while gunman Man Haron Monis was still holding hostages inside the Lindt Cafe.
The inquest has previously heard evidence about a discussion between Mr Scipione and Assistant Commissioner Mark Jenkins in which it was decided that deliberate action — in which officers would storm the cafe at the time of their choosing — was to be the last resort.
Details of the telephone conversation between Mr Scipione and Mr Jenkins, at about 10.57pm on the night of the siege, were recorded in a police log.
Mr Jenkins was the most senior commander in charge of the police operation at the time of the telephone conversation.
Under questioning on Tuesday from counsel representing Mr Johnson’s family, Gabrielle Bashir SC, the deputy tactical commander during the siege, said the command structure in place during the siege restricted how tactical officers could respond.
Ms Bashir: “And in fact only the police commander could direct a change in strategy from contain and negotiate to approval and initiation of a (direct action)?”
Deputy tactical commander: “That’s correct.”
Bashir: “It suggests that you and tactical commander, for example, were subject to restriction by a command hierarchy as to at least who could approve and authorise a DA. Would you agree with that?”
Deputy tactical commander: “Yes.”
There has been much discussion at the inquest about whose call it was to block a deliberate action plan to storm the cafe before any hostages were hurt or killed.
The siege ended after Monis shot cafe manager Tori Johnson at point blank range at 2.13am, prompting police to storm the Martin Place cafe. Hostages Tori Johnson and Katrina Dawson and the gunman, Man Haron Monis, died.
The families of slain Lindt Cafe siege victims formally applied for Mr Scipione and Ms Burn to give evidence at the inquest.
The inquest continues.