Police sniper reportedly asked to end Sydney siege inquest with ‘kill shot’

A POLICE sniper believes he could have killed gunman Man Haron Monis and ended the Sydney Siege hours earlier.

CCTV showing the moment the tactical operations unit storm the Lindt cafe in Martin Place killing Man Haron Monis

A POLICE sniper believes he could have killed gunman Man Haron Monis but NSW Police is fighting to keep discussion of this evidence secret.

The inquest into the Sydney Siege is due to continue today but police are fighting to have their evidence heard behind closed doors.

According to Channel 7 police are expected to make an application to the State Coroner this morning that a transcript of the evidence, with some agreed sections blacked out, be released publicly days after it’s heard in private.

It comes as The Daily Telegraph reports one of the snipers involved in the siege asked for permission to take a “kill shot” of the gunman, but this was refused.

Instead police decided to continue with a policy to negotiate with the gunman instead.

It’s understood the inquest was expecting to go through a re-creation of the sniper’s position, the type of glass in place at the time and whether the shot would have been successful.

CCTV showing the moment the tactical operations unit storm the Lindt cafe in Martin Place killing Man Haron Monis

The shot could potentially have ended the siege at 7.30pm on December 15, 2014, hours before police stormed the cafe at 2.13am on December 16 after Monis shot dead cafe manager Tori Johnson. Another hostage Katrina Dawson died after a fragment of a police bullet hit her.

The inquest has so far heard weeks of evidence from many of the 18 hostages held for 16 hours at the Lindt cafe in Martin Place.

Details of the panic and terror experienced by the hostages emerged, including the way gunman Monis psyched himself up before he shot cafe manager Mr Johnson.

Louisa Hope — the last of the hostages to give evidence at the inquest into the December 2014 siege — gave her account of the terrifying final moments before Monis executed Mr Johnson, prompting police to storm the cafe.

Louisa Hope leaves the Lindt Cafe siege inquest after giving evidence. Picture: AAP Image/Paul Miller

He was “huffing and puffing”, Ms Hope told the inquest a week ago, adding that Monis was “like an athlete preparing for a big event”.

“Then he shot the gun and I felt the gunshot. Tori fell forward with his hands still at his head,” Ms Hope said.