Police errors during siege highlighted
AUSTRALIA: Police responding to a deadly hostage crisis in a Sydney cafe underestimated the gunman’s threat and should have stormed the building earlier, rather than waiting to act until the gunman had killed a captive, a coroner said yesterday after concluding a 21⁄ year inquiry.
The findings follow intense criticism from many of the 18 hostages and families of the victims, who have long questioned why police waited nearly 17 hours to enter the Lindt Cafe and end the December 2014 siege.
Police moved in only after an erratic Man Haron Monis fatally shot cafe manager Tori Johnson. Monis was then shot dead by police. Another hostage, lawyer Katrina Dawson, was killed in the crossfire.
Though New South Wales state Coroner Michael Barnes took pains to say that the only person responsible for the deaths was Monis himself, he concluded that police made a series of mistakes, most notably by failing to immediately storm the cafe after Monis fired at a group of hostages who fled the building more than 16 hours into the crisis.
Another 10 minutes elapsed before Monis fired his shotgun into the back of Johnson’s head, killing him instantly and finally triggering the police response.
‘‘An emergency action should have been initiated following the first shot of Monis,’' Barnes said. ‘‘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.‘’
Barnes said that while police correctly followed their standard policy of trying to negotiate with Monis and not cede to his demands early in the siege, alternatives should have been considered as the crisis wore on. A psychiatrist called in by police also gave erroneous assessments of the situation inside the cafe and issued ambiguous advice, which contributed to police underestimating the threat Monis posed, Barnes said.
Multiple calls by hostages to a number they had been told would connect them with a police negotiator went unanswered, compounding their fear and frustration. At one point, hostage Marcia Mikhael called a Sydney radio station on Monis’s behalf and said police were doing nothing to end the crisis, saying: ‘‘They have left us here to die.’'
Though Monis demanded that police deliver him an Islamic State flag at the outset of the crisis, there was no evidence that he had ever established contact with the militant group.
Many thought the 50-year-old Iranian-born man was simply a disturbed individual lashing out against a series of perceived personal injustices. In the lead-up to the siege, Monis had lost custody of his children and fallen into debt, and was facing possible jail time on violence charges, including 40 counts of sexual assault, and accessory to murder over the slaying of his ex-wife.
The coroner also concluded that prosecutors’ attempts to keep Monis off the street before the siege were inadequate. - AP