Police waited ‘10 minutes too long’
POLICE waited too long when they took 10 minutes to storm the Lindt Cafe after gunman Man Haron Monis fired his first shot at fleeing hostages, NSW Coroner Michael Barnes has found.
The coroner yesterday handed down a 500-page report following his long- running inquiry into the deaths of hostages Tori Johnson and Katrina Dawson during the 2014 terrorist attack.
Mr Barnes lay the blame squarely on the “vicious maniac” Monis but other parties, including police and a consulting psychiatrist, weren’t immune from criticism.
He raised concerns over the failure of the police strategy, the lack of training for negotiators, the “ambiguous advice” given by the psychiatrist and the “inadequate” work of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions which allowed Monis bail while on serious charges.
But the coroner noted the situation would have challenged any of the world’s police forces.
“Monis deserves to be the sole focus of our denunciation and condemnation,” he said.
At 2.03am on December 16, an increasingly agitated Monis fired a shot at escaping hostages which satisfied a “secondary trigger” and should have prompted police to storm the cafe at Martin Place.
“That made it clear there was little to no chance of resolving the siege and those within the cafe were at an extreme risk of harm,” Mr Barnes said in Sydney.
“The 10 minutes that lapsed without decisive action by police was too long.
“By the time tactical officers smashed their way into the cafe, Monis had forced Mr Johnson to his knees and shot him in the head.”
Ms Dawson was killed by multiple bullet fragments during the shootout.
New NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller admits the delay was too long.
“In hindsight, knowing everything we know now, NSW Police should have gone in earlier,” he said.
Police had feared Monis’s backpack contained a bomb and adopted a “contain and negotiate” strategy, which Mr Barnes said failed.
The stand-off may never have eventuated in the first place, however, if Monis had not been granted bail on accessory to murder and doz- ens of sexual assault offences.
Mr Barnes found the work of an ODPP solicitor in December 2013 was inadequate, “erroneously” advising a court Monis didn’t have to show exceptional circumstances in arguing for bail. Police also made a mistake by issuing Monis with a court attendance notice for the sexual offences in October 2014 rather than arresting him, the coroner said.
He was already on bail at the time for a Commonwealth offence after he had written offensive letters to families of Australian soldiers killed in the Middle East.