CORONER’S FINDINGS

TIMING OF POLICE RESPONSE:

“... after a brief period to allow officers to gather information, an emergency action should have been initiated following the first shot of Monis at 2.03am. 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. The 10 minutes that lapsed without decisive action by police was too long.”

THE CONTAIN & NEGOTIATE STRATEGY:

“The outcome of the Lindt cafe siege suggests that contain and negotiate strategy needs to be more rigorously assessed in the context of terrorist incidents.“

ERRORS OVER MONIS’S BAIL:

Police made a mistake when they failed to arrest Man Haron Monis on new sex offences two months before the Lindt Cafe siege, and a prosecutor’s handling of his bail matters was inadequate and wrong, Mr Barnes said. “That ODPP solicitor erroneously advised the court that Monis did not have to show exceptional circumstances before he could be granted bail on the murder charges.”

PSYCHIATRIST:

“A consultant psychiatrist’s role at the siege was sub-optimal. He was giving advice about tactics. He made erroneous and unrealistic assessments of what was occurring in the stronghold. He gave ambiguous advice. And he was permitted to go beyond his area of expertise to give advice about Islamic terrorism.”

WHETHER THE SNIPERS COULD’VE KILLED MONIS:

“They believed they did not have the lawful justification to shoot. In those circumstances, the snipers should not be criticised for not taking a shot at Monis. They could not have safely resolved the siege.” “The glass of the windows at which they were positioned was too thick and hard, even if it could have been breached before a shot was taken.”

THE FORCE USED BY POLICE UPON ENTRY:

“They (Officer A& B) did not fire indiscriminately or excessively “There was an unnecessary amount of (distraction) devices deployed.”