Sydney siege inquest raises uncomfortable questions for police

AN inquest into the Sydney siege is revealing details of what happened in the Lindt Cafe and raising some uncomfortable questions for police.

Why didn’t they storm the cafe?

A CLEARER picture of what happened inside the Lindt Cafe has emerged and raised some uncomfortable questions for police, as the inquest into the Sydney siege continues.

This week, counsel assisting the coroner Sophie Callan revealed some key information about how the siege played out and ultimately led to the deaths of hostages Katrina Dawson and Tori Johnson in December 2014.

It has raised questions about why police decided against ending the stand-off in favour of a strategy of “contain and negotiate”.

The siege ended when gunman Man Haron Monis shot Mr Johnson about 2.14am, after 17 hours in the cafe.

The inquest heard that around 11 hours into the ordeal, between 8.20pm and 8.40pm, the commander of the Tactical Operations Unit suggested police take “a deliberate action” rather than following an “emergency action plan”.

But this was rejected by senior police officers.

“It seems the tactical commander (thought) there may be some merit in executing the deliberate action as this would allow police to resolve the siege at a time and by tactical methods of their choosing rather than in response to Monis’ actions,” Ms Callan said on Tuesday.

At 11.35pm, “deliberate action” was again discussed but, Ms Callan told the hearing, Assistant Commissioner Mark Jenkins took advice from the TOU commander and was satisfied “contain and negotiate” was a better strategy.

Police also continued to wait as Johnson was told by Monis — about 10 minutes before the cafe manager was fatally shot — to kneel.

“The degree to which that was seen by police, and if so how it was interpreted, must be explored in the evidence,” Ms Callan said.

At 2.11am, Monis fired a shot in the direction of the cafe kitchen.

“The evidence suggests Tori fell forward to the ground at this point and resumed kneeling. He must have felt seriously at risk at this point,” Ms Callan said.

Tori Johnson was made to kneel 10 minutes before he was shot.

As Monis reloaded his shotgun, hostage Fiona Ma ran towards the main doors and made her way out onto Phillip Street.

“At 2.12am, Monis is heard saying words to the effect, `you’ll be all right, you will be fine’,” Ms Callan said.

“Yet tragically, less than a minute later at approximately 2.13am, Monis discharged his weapon for the third time, shooting Tori Johnson in the back of the head and causing him to fall forward onto the cafe floor.”

Ms Callan said questions would be asked about whether the emergency trigger should have been set at less than death or serious injury of a hostage.

An injured hostage is wheeled to an ambulance after shots were fired during the siege. Picture: AP Photo/Rob Griffith

Five senior British police officers have also reviewed the actions of NSW police ahead of the inquest’s final hearings. Their report is expected be revealed at the inquest.

The panel of five UK experts headed by Detective Chief Inspector Simon Chesterman, head of armed policing in Britain, had access to statements, CCTV footage and other material.

“The report questioned some of the decision-making on the day and some of the policies of the NSW Police force,” State Coroner Michael Barnes said.

However he said that overall it supported the police actions.

The inquest into the siege will resume on the Tuesday after Easter, with hostages Jarrod Morton-Hoffman and Fiona Ma expected to give evidence.

KEY REVELATIONS SO FAR:

1. Hostage tried to feed information to police via text messages

Hostage Tori Johnson sent text messages to alert authorities of an opportunity to storm the cafe and rescue the hostages but help didn’t come until it was too late, the inquest heard.

Ms Callan told the inquest that Mr Johnson sent the first SMS message to Lindt Cafe supervisor Paolo Vassallo, at 7.05pm. Mr Vassallo was one of the hostages who had earlier escaped the cafe and was recovering in St Vincent’s Hospital when he received the message from Mr Johnson.

Mr Johnson wrote: “Tell the police the lobby door is unlocked.

“He’s sitting in the corner on his own.”

Ms Callan said Mr Vassallo immediately telephoned one of the detectives and relayed the message.

About 30 minutes later, Mr Johnson sent the same message to a Lindt & Sprungli (Australia) number.

2. Hostage begged police to turn off lights

As the day turned into night and the light from Christmas decorations outside the cafe beamed through the windows, Monis grew increasingly paranoid and demanded darkness.

The inquest heard an audio recording of hostage Selina Win Pe’s desperate call to negotiators at 1.12am when she told them she would be shot in 15 minutes if the gunman’s demands weren’t met.

“You don’t know how close I just came. Could you please have these lights switched off? I have 15 minutes or I’m going to get shot with a rifle. Please,” Ms Win Pe is heard saying in the audio.

Selina Win Pe described some of the horrific scenes experienced during her ordeal to a television program last year. Courtesy: 60 Minutes/Channel Nine

The negotiator can be heard telling Ms Win Pe that they were council lights and therefore not able to be turned off immediately.

“My life is going to be gone in 15 minutes if you don’t have someone helping us,” Ms Win Pe responded.

The outside lights weren’t turned off throughout the siege.

The issue will be delved into later in the inquest.

3. Gunman fired at six hostages as they escaped

Incredible CCTV footage played at the inquest on Tuesday showed Monis firing shots at six hostages — Jarrod Hoffman, Puspendu Ghosh, Viswakanth Ankireddy, Harriette Denny, Joel Herat and Julie Taylor — as they took an opportunity to escape and fled the cafe at 2.03am.

The hostages can be seen bolting from the cafe door and into the foyer of the main building as the bullets — which are visible on the recording as flashes of light — are fired at them.

Ms Callan said Monis had fired at hostages but missed, which pointed to a limited experience with guns, the difficulty of aiming his sawn off shotgun and the suddenness of the escape.

Monis fired at hostages as they ran to safety. Picture: AP Photo/Rob Griffith

4. Gunman used a bottle to urinate and blow smoke into

Monis used a bottle from the cafe kitchen to urinate in so the hostages weren’t left unattended, the inquest heard.

Ms Callan said Monis first indicated he “needed to relieve himself” in the evening.

“After some discussion a bottle was obtained from the kitchen which Monis took into the corner and urinated into.

“(One of the hostages) then took it to the toilet to empty it.”

Monis also indicated he wanted to have a cigarette but was concerned about setting off smoke alarms and sprinklers.

“After some discussion a bottle was obtained which Monis blew smoke into,” Ms Callan said.

5. Demands for an Islamic State flag were almost met

Monis’ demand for an Islamic State flag in exchange for the release of one of his 18 hostages was almost met.

Counsel assisting the state coroner, Jason Downing said an IS flag did arrive at the police command about 5pm but “by that time a clear decision had been made not to provide the flag to Monis.”

Mr Downing said the concern was that the flag “might lead to Monis using it as a backdrop for an IS style atrocity”.

6. Gunman tried to keep his identity secret

“Monis never announced himself or used his name in the siege,” Counsel assisting the inquest, Jeremy Gormly SC said.

“When negotiators first used his name late in the afternoon, around 4.50pm on December 15, the call was promptly terminated.”

Mr Gormly said Monis denied his identity when negotiators again referred to him by name on a later call.

7. Inside the gunman’s backpack

Monis kept his backpack on from the moment he walked into the Lindt Cafe and “never took it off”, according to Mr Gormly SC.

Monis put a sawn-off shotgun in a blue Big W bag and placed it inside the backpack, which he purchased days earlier.

Monis had a Big W bag and gun. Picture: AAP Image/NSW Police

A knife, with bloodstains, was also found. Monis never used the knife during the siege but authorities believe he packed it as a “backup” weapon.

The blood visible on the knife in the photo produced at the inquiry reportedly came from Monis who was still wearing the backpack when shot by police.

A knife Monis had in his backpack. Picture: AAP Image/NSW Police

Monis had packed speakers and their wires into the backpack.

“The speakers and wires would only have been there to create the illusion of the bomb,” Mr Gormly said.

8. Scripted call made to triple-0

The message that Monis forced Tori Johnson to make to triple-0 operators was scripted by the gunman.

A note found at the scene, which Mr Johnson was forced to read out, said:

“Australia is under attack by the Islamic State.

“There are three bombs in three different locations: Martin Place, Circular Quay and George St.

“I want to contact other brothers and ask them NOT to explode the other two bombs but I can’t contact because they don’t carry phone with them.

“They have radio with them.”

The bombs turned out to be a hoax but led to most of central Sydney being locked down as emergency services checked them out.

A copy of the note Tori Johnson was made to read during triple-0 call.

Monis wrote that he wanted to relay his message to the fictional “other brothers” through ABC radio.

“The plan is to request Tony Abbott to call them or me and to have a debate while it is broadcast live on ABC national radio,” Mr Johnson said.

9. Tori Johnson was treated differently to the other hostages

Counsel assisting the state coroner, Jason Downing, told the inquest that Monis seemed to “single Tori out and act more aggressively towards him than the other hostages”, possibly because of Mr Johnson’s senior position at the cafe.

“Monis continued to refer to him as ‘manager’ quite forcefully throughout the day.

“Most of the other hostages were directed to stand with their eyes closed on the bench seat which runs along the Martin Place side of the cafe, with their hands up against the windows,” Mr Downing said.

“Tori was treated differently and kept seated at a table for longer than the others.

“Though he too ultimately spent time on the seat facing out onto Martin Place.”

The inquest heard that Monis also probed the hostages about their backgrounds, families and jobs.

10. Police fired 22 shots at Monis

It was the death of Johnson and words “hostage down” over police radios that prompted officers from the Tactical Operations Unit to storm the building.

Two officers — Officer A and Officer B — fired 22 shots in the direction of Monis, as police entered the cafe. Officer A fired off 17 rounds.

The autopsy showed Monis sustained multiple gun shot wounds including to the head, left shoulder and lower back, right upper back, buttocks, the left side of the chest, left upper arm and right foot.

Katrina Dawson was killed when she was hit by shrapnel from police bullets

At about 2.16am, she was discovered “lying face down under tables and chairs” in the northwest corner of the cafe, and found to have a pulse. She later died at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.

Katrina Dawson died after being hit by shrapnel from police bullets.

11. A points system for hostages was created

Monis created a points system for his hostages, where those who “did the right thing” scored points and those who didn’t attracted debits.

“He continued to be concerned about police coming close to the cafe and had hostages warn negotiators on a number of occasions that the police should stay away or he would shoot one of the hostages.”

Ms Callan said that at other times Monis was fixated on radio coverage of the siege and seemed pleased that police were “emphasising that they were confident the siege could finish peacefully”.