Sydney siege inquest: Hostage Paolo Vassallo talks about emotional impact on hostages

A HOSTAGE warned police there wasn’t going to be a peaceful end to the Sydney siege hours before two hostages were killed.

Paolo Vassallo. Video still from an upcoming episode of Channel 9's 60 Minutes, interviewing victims, hostages and recreating scenes from the Sydney Lindt Cafe Siege. Picture: Channel 9 / 60 Minutes

A HOSTAGE who escaped the Lindt cafe siege has revealed he told police if they didn’t act immediately and storm the cafe to take down the gunman, people would be killed.

Former Lindt cafe worker Paolo Vassallo this morning told the inquest into the deaths arising from the siege how he escaped Man Haron Monis then warned police the gunman was going to start shooting hostages if they didn’t act soon.

Mr Vassallo said he fled through a fire escape door in the kitchen moments after two other hostages, John O’Brien and Stefan Balafoutis, ran for their lives via the front entrance around 3.40pm.

He was then met by police around the corner who took him to a nearby leagues club to be treated and interviewed.

“I saw a guy in the SWAT, (wearing) all black,” Mr Vassallo said as he choked up.

“I said ‘you have to go in’.

“I said ‘you can’t wait for this guy … you waiting, he’s going to shoot someone’.

“There’s one thing I believed he would do and that’s shoot someone.

“I said (to police) ‘you can’t wait or people are going to die in there’.”

Mr Vassallo suggested police had missed at least one opportunity to storm the cafe and disarm or kill Monis.

“I made it clear (to police following my escape) it had to end on police terms,” Mr Vassallo said.

“Negotiating was non-existent, demands weren’t being met and that was frustrating (Monis), it was only going to go one way, it was only going to escalate.

“It was never going to be a happy ending. A peaceful resolution was never on the cards. It was only going to end badly, and that’s why I wanted the police to end it on their terms; to give the people a chance, half a chance.

“I knew he was there to shoot someone. He was going to do the shooting and I believed that so I pushed for (police) to go in as quick as they (could), not to wait. They would have had a chance, the people there, you know.

“To end like that, it kills me.”

Mr Vassallo described how after his escape he received a text message from Mr Johnson, who was caught up in the siege at the time, telling him to contact police and let them know there was an opportunity to burst into the cafe.

The inquest heard that the message, sent by Mr Johnson just after 7pm, read: “Tell the police the lobby door is unlocked. He’s sitting in a corner on his own.”

“I was happy when I got that message,” Mr Vassallo said.

Mr Vassallo showed a detective the message.

“I was sure that would have been the end of it.”

The inquest is looking into the deaths arising from the Sydney siege at the Lindt cafe on December 15, 2014. Cafe manager Tori Johnson and Katrina Dawson were killed in the siege, along with the gunman.

It wasn’t until Mr Johnson was shot in the back of the head by Monis at 2.14am that police stormed the cafe.

Mr Vassallo told the inquest he sometimes thought when “looking back, I should have done more”.

Lindt cafe siege victims Katrina Dawson and Tori Johnson.

MONIS WASN’T ACTING ALONE

Mr Vassallo told the inquest he believes Monis wasn’t acting alone.

“I believe he had a plan and his plan went sour when the other people didn’t turn up. I still believe that today,” he said.

Mr Vassallo said his belief was based on Monis’ hollow threats about having bombs and seemingly unorganised actions during the siege.

“I made the assumption there was no bomb on him at all,” Mr Vassallo said.

“I believed if he really had a bomb in there he wouldn’t have always been putting so much emphasis on the gun.

“I was scared only of the gun.

“He would forget what he was supposed to be saying, that was half the problem.

“There was one thing I was certain of, that he’d kill someone, 100 per cent certain.

“It was just a matter of what would trigger that. He was trying to play a game.”

THE WORDS THAT BRING HOSTAGE TO TEARS

Mr Vassallo has provided a heartbreaking insight into the emotional impacts on hostages involved in the Sydney siege by revealing he still can’t read his original statement without breaking down.

Mr Vassallo revealed gunman Man Haron Monis told the hostages that no one cared about them and said he started to believe the allegations as the day wore on.

Counsel assisting Jeremy Gormly asked Mr Vassallo if he had recently read a copy of his original police statement at the start of the inquest this morning.

“I’ve read it a lot,” Mr Vassallo said.

“But every time I read it I just cry.

“When I read this is just upsets me.”

The Sydney-based chef who is married with children said he first noticed the gunman looking at his watch and quickly realised he had a gun.

7 News video from their Martin Place studio. Showing the final 15 minutes of the Lindt cafe siege.

“He said he was here because of Tony Abbott and what we were doing overseas and it was an attack on Australia and it was Islamic State,” Mr Vassallo told the inquest.

“He said the deaths were on Tony Abbott and that ‘no-one cares about you ... the government doesn’t care if you die’.”

Mr Gormly asked if he had believed what Monis was telling the hostages.

“You’d like not to believe it but as the day went on you kind of did believe it because no one was coming.”

Mr Vassallo was first off the rank this morning to give evidence at the inquest.

Westpac worker and Lindt siege hostage Puspendhu Ghosh is expected to take the stand later today.

Yesterday, hostages Fiona Ma, Stefan Balafoutis and John O’Brien took the stand.

On the first day of the inquest, the quiet hero of the siege Jarrod Morton-Hoffman spoke about his daring escape.

More to come.