Some of what we've learned today
- Man Haron Monis entered the Lindt Cafe at 8:33am on Monday 15 December. He was wearing camouflage pants, a large backpack, and hiding a sawn-off pump-action shotgun.
- He asked to speak with Tori Johnson, the manager of the cafe. Johnson appeared to become stressed as the two spoke. The doors were locked and Monis stood up to announce: “This is an attack. I have a bomb.”
- Monis told Johnson to called triple-0 and tell the operator, “This is an attack on Australia by Islamic State.”
- Monis claimed he was carrying a bomb and had several radio-controlled bombs in place at Martin Place and Circular Quay. No bombs were ever found.
- Monis had no contact with Islamic State prior to the attacks.
- He repeatedly threatened to shoot hostages throughout the 16-hour standoff.
- At 2:14am, “without further notice or warning”, Johnson was told to kneel and then shot by Man Haron Monis at close range.
- His death was “called in” by a police sniper, which triggered a raid on the cafe.
- Monis fired two shots from his sawn-off shotgun as police entered the building. He was hit at least 13 times in the face and body and died “instantly” while trying to fire another.
- Katrina Dawson was hit by six fragments of police bullets that ricocheted off the walls. One hit a major artery. She died shortly after.
- Police fired a total of 22 rounds at Monis as they stormed the building. Ricochets hit another officer and three hostages, all of who survived.
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With that, the hearing has now adjourned for a date that been will be announced shortly.
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Gormly is now addressing the paid hostage interviews conducted by the Seven and Nine Networks.
“At present,” he says, “the law is that unless there is a contempt it’s not automatically illegal for a witness to give a paid interview”.
In this case there is not likely to be any actionable contempt, he says.
Statements have been obtained from and signed by every hostage.
Katrina Dawson killed by six fragments of police bullets
Katrina Dawson was struck by six fragments of police bullets which ricocheted off the walls of the cafe. Some of these “struck a major blood vessel. She lost consciosuness quickly and died shortly afterwards”.
A police officer and three more hostages were hit by police ricochets. They are all recovering.
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Monis shot at least 13 times and killed "instantly"
A total of 11 distractors (or “flash-bangs”) were thrown into the cafe by police as they stormed in. They made a total of 99 sounds and flashes.
Bullets and fragments of bullets hit Mr Monis, “who was killed instantly”. He was shot twice in the head and at least 11 times in the body.
It appears he died trying to reload his shotgun.
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Monis didn’t remove his backpack the entire time. He continually threatened to shoot hostages throughout the siege.
Johnson was made to kneel at the floor of the cafe and was shot without warning. “The end of the barrel was about 75 cms from Mr Johnson’s head at the moment of discharge. Mr Johnson is believed to have died instantly.”
This was spotted by a police marksman, who “called it in”. Police stormed the building.
“This is an attack, I have a bomb.”
“On the morning of the 15th December 2014, at about 8:33am, Mr Monis entered the Lindt Cafe,” Gormly says.
He was wearing camoflauge pants, wearing a large backpack, and carrying a blue plastic bag.
“He brought into the cafe a hidden, pump action shotgun. It was short, having been shorn off at the butt and the barrel”.
He met his family law solicitor in the cafe by chance. He ordered a piece of chocolate cake and tea.
“About 30 minutes later he told the waiter he wished to speak with the manager.”
Monis spoke with Tori Johnson for a moment and appeared stressed. Johnson asked a staff member, “I need you to get my keys from the office. We’re closed. Everything is okay, tell the staff to stay calm.”
The doors were locked and Monis donned a vest and bandana. He stood and announced: “This is an attack, I have a bomb.”
Hostages were asked to stand by the window of the cafe carrying what they described as “an Islamic-type flag”.
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The issues to be examined
We’ve also been read a list of the “provisional issues” to be examined by the inquest:
1. The particulars of the death of each person
2. Security issues concerning Mr Monis, including the information held by NSW and commonwealth government agencies concerning Monis as a public security risk. “For example, was he being monitored at all?”
3. Whether the siege could be categories as a terror attack. “Monis claimed in the cafe that his actions were an attack on Australia by Islamic State.” He also claimed to have bombs in his control. “But at present it does not appear he established contact with Islamic State before the siege,” Gormly says.
4. Bail: “Did prosecuting authorities respond adequately?”
5. Mental health issues: “Did the management of mental health issues of Mr Monis play any identified able role in his undertaking of the siege?”
6. The objectives and motivations of Monis.
7. The gun: “All aspects of the gun used by Mr Monis are being investigated.”
8. Inside the Lindt Cafe: “What were the communications and demands of Mr Monis throughout the siege?”
9. Social media and “it’s role in affecting the resolution of the siege”.
10. Siege management.
11. The death of Tori Johnson.
12. Entry into the cafe: “How did the entry occur and what happened upon entry?”
13. The death of Katrina Dawson: “Could it have been avoided in the circumstances?”
14. Events after the siege, including police communication with the families of the hostages during and after the incident.
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Here are some of the first six “hearing segments” that will be conducted:
1. The facts of the siege
2. The hostage experience
3. Siege management in this case and siege procedure in Australia
4. Man Haron Monis
5. The bail question
6. The gun used by Mr Monis
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The joint NSW-federal government review into the circumstances surrounding Man Haron Monis will report in a few days.
The management by the police of the hostages during and after the siege will be examined by the inquest. Masses of film, sound recordings, Facebook posts, and CCTV footage have been analysed by investigators.
There were over 300 triple-0 calls made during the siege, Gormly says.
A full psychiatric profile of Monis will also be presented. We’re going to hear about Monis’ gun history, the details of the shotgun he used, his political and religious claims, his close relationships, his bail application and his past.
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Monis carried a sawn-off shotgun and fired five catridges
Counsel assisting the coroner, Jeremy Gormly, is explaining the role of the cornoner and introducing some of the investigators who’ve spent the past weeks trying to build a picture of the last few minutes of the siege. He promises the inquest will be “broad and intense”.
Each of the autopsies has been completed, he says. The reports will be tendered to evidence at some point during this hearing.
The bodies of Dawson and Johnson were returned their families for burial. Monis has also been buried, he says, “and no more needs to be said about that.”
A 3D reconstruction of the scene has been generated. A full ballistics assessment of the sawn-off shotgun used by Mr Monis has been carried out. We’re told he fired five shotgun catridges and was carrying others.
Every shot fired in the cafe will be accounted for, Gormly says.
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Inquest hears no security camera operating inside Lindt cafe during #sydneysiege @amworldtodaypm pic.twitter.com/Bmj7O83l2C
— Brendan Trembath (@BrendanTrembath) January 28, 2015
“All hostages have been interviewed. Difficult as it will be for all of them, it is inevitable that all will be asked to give evidence,” Gormly says.
“They are our eyes and ears about what happened in the Lindt Cafe.”
Counsel assisting the coroner, Jeremy Gormly, is now speaking.
“Monday the 15th December begun in such an ordinary way,” he says. “It was so ordinary that anyone, friends or family, could have found themselves in the convenient and pleasant Lindt cafe right in the middle of Sydney.”
The siege seemed to break its way into the intimacy of daily Sydney life,” he adds.
He promises the inquest will reveal the siege’s “cause, it’s lead up, the detail of the life of Mr Monis, the events during the siege, it’s termination and its aftermath”.
Gormly says the investigators were aided by the fact that there was a “surprising amount” of film and audio captured during the 16 hours that Man Haron Monis terrorised the Lindt Cafe.
He says “doubt may remain as the precise state of mind of Mr Monis”, but the coroner will be able to draw some conclusions by inference.
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The NSW coroner, Michael Barnes, is addressing the families of those killed in the siege and the surviving hostages.
He asks them not to be offended by the forensic, detached nature of inquests such as these. “When we appear dispassionate, we are not unconcerned. When we appear clinical, we are not uncaring,” he says.
Nobody working on the inquest has forgotten the grief of the families of the two victims, nor “how intensely personal it remains,” he says.
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Katrina Dawson will be represented at this inquest by Phillip Bolton SC (though he isn’t appearing today), and her solicitor is Peter Hodges.
Tori Johnson is represented by solicitor Bill de Mars, provided by Legal Aid NSW.
For the police, Ian Frecklelton QC and solicitor Stuart Robinson. We’ve also been told that “Officer A” and “Officer B” from the entry team have legal representation.
No members of the Dawson family are here, but there are representatives of the Johnson family present. John O’Brien is the only hostage in the room.
The state coroner, Michael Barnes, has just begun speaking.
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Welcome
Good morning. Welcome to our rolling coverage of the coroner’s inquest into the deaths of Katrina Dawson and Tori Johnson, who were both killed in the final, frantic minutes of the siege of the Lindt Cafe in Martin Place last month.
This inquest, one of three separate investigations into the circumstances surrounding the siege, will also try to establish how the gunman, 50-year-old Man Haron Monis, was killed when police stormed the cafe after a 16 hour standoff.
Johnson, 34, was the manager of the Lindt cafe. Dawson, 38, was a barrister with three children. Johnson is believed to have died at the hands of the gunman, but reports earlier this month suggested Dawson was felled by a police bullet. That’s one of many issues we’re hoping this inquest may resolve.
A joint New South Wales and federal government inquiry is currently underway. The police are also examining their conduct that day.
Today’s inquest, overseen by NSW coroner Michael Barnes and guided by counsel assisting the coroner Jeremy Gormly SC, is expected to run for two hours. Stay with us.
