With that Northey’s evidence is done and the inquest is adjourned for the day (a tad early).
- The look at Monis’ electronic life offered a small glimpse into the man. We heard about an email he sent the Australian prime minister, Tony Abbott, challenging him to a live debate and also emails complaining about the use of “moderate” and “extremist” Muslims. Monis said all Muslims were just Muslims.
- In perhaps the first look into his personal life, we heard emails between Monis and one of his daughters in Iran. She missed her dad.
- There is still no evidence Monis had any direct electronic contact with Islamic State.
- In a mental health assessment in preparation for the potential of prison Monis was judged as having “no mental health issues”, just months before the siege. He lied about his charges and personal history during the consultation.
- However, in another assessment for prison the clinical nurse formed the view Monis needed a psychiatric assessment.
- Monis saw a psychologist in 2010 (at the time he was seeing two psychiatrists unbeknownst to each other) who said while he had symptoms of a delusional disorder he had not spent enough time with Monis to give a proper diagnosis.
- A mental health worker who assessed Monis in 2010 found while he had delusional thoughts he was not a threat to himself or others and recommended he be discharged from hospital and referred to a psychiatrist.
I am off to record the daily podcast with Michael Safi on the coronial inquest, you can stream our episode from yesterday here and they are also available in the iTunes library here.
Detective senior constable Murray Northey is asked who requested for Man Haron Monis’ website to be taken down:
I can’t answer that.
An exchange of emails between Man Haron Monis and his daughter in Iran has been read to the inquest.
It appears she chose a husband on the basis that he was willing to travel to Australia to visit her father, Monis. Her email read:
Hello dad, how are you? Happy new year. I called aunty [name withheld] but couldn’t get through, mum said you permitted the marriage to go ahead...I had other men wanting to marry me and i chose him because of what you said, he said he would come with me to you where you are outside of Iran.
I want you to know that my wish is to be next to you for the rest of my life and I promise I won’t interfere with your private life.
Monis wrote to his daughter on 29 May 2014:
Sorry I was not able to email you, just know if I do not email you there must be a reason why...tell him [her husband] from me that i want you guys to come to me, God willing, so don’t think that I don’t want you and your husband to come here.
I have a couple of court matters that need to be finalised, I can’t apply for your visas until they are resolved.
Updated
The inquest is being shown emails from Haron writing to the mufti complaining of being referred to as an extremist Muslim and as a Shia, he said both statements were incorrect.
He also sent an email from peace@sheikharon.com to the prime minister, Tony Abbott, that began “an invitation for a live debate!”
The email then went on to reference a visit to troops in Afghanistan in 2013.
Another email, sent in June 2014, declares he had joined the Rebels motorcycle gang. In it he said “Sheik Haron loves to ride motorbikes”.
There is nothing wrong about joining for sport and...[I] can teach members about God and religion,.
Monis was deemed “very weird” by the bikie gang members.
Now having a look at YouTube account, the inquest is being shown videos of Man Haron Monis delivering lectures.
Moving on to emails, we are hearing about correspondence with peaceactivist1@hotmail.com, Monis’ email account. It’s mostly photos from his partner, an email form YouTube in 2009 when he set up his account and even an email from a police officer in 2009 to do with a protest Monis had proposed and notified the police about.
Man Haron Monis had a twitter account with the handle @sheik_haron. Before the siege, Monis had 12 followers. After his death, by the end of December 2014, Monis had 898.
It was linked to an email account which had the username peaceactivist.1
An example of a few of his tweets:
I am almost new on twitter anddon’t know much about it anyone the facebook page please connect so I can follow you
I am almost new on twitter my Muslim brothers and sister on Facebook please connect to me
and in reference to the offensive letters he sent to the families of Australian soldiers who had died in Afghanistan:
Australia media and politicians don’t like my flowers of advice
Man Haron Monis published an email on his website which he said was carbon copied (CCed) to world leaders such as the king of Jordan, the president of Syria and the Australian prim minister.
The email was dated October 6, 2014 but we don’t actually know if it was sent. It rambled a bit and said:
This pen is my gun and these words are my bullets, I fight against oppression to promote peace.
...We cannot call anyone a moderate Muslim, as such a thing does not exist, I am not an extremist or a moderate Muslim as such a thing does not exist. I am just a Muslim.
Northey examined Monis’ YouTube accounts, the websites he visited and discussions he took part in on the internet.
So, is there any evidence through electronic activity that Monis had direct contact with Islamic State?
Not that I’ve seen.
We did hear this in the directions hearing in January, but it seems police still have not found that he had any contact with Isis.
The inquest resumes and we have detective senior constable Murray Northey. It looks like Northey is going to be a particularly illuminating witness, Northey is a member of the unsolved homicide team but previously was with the fraud and cyber squad.
Northey spent months examining the digital trail of Man Haron Monis and will be giving evidence today about his electronic life - Monis’ use of social media and websites in particular.
This morning’s evidence has continued to focus on Man Haron Monis’ mental health. Just before I launch into the most interesting points raised today I thought I would reiterate that just because Monis was provisionally diagnosed with chronic schizophrenia, and at different times was diagnosed with anxiety and depression as well as being paranoid, it does not mean that was his motivation for taking 18 people hostage in the Lindt cafe last December. We are only at the very beginning of this inquest and must not be too quick to jump to conclusion based on one or two days worth of evidence.
I digress. Here is what we have learnt today:
- In a mental health assessment in preparation for the potential of prison Monis was judged as having “no mental health issues”, just months before the siege. He lied about his charges and personal history during the consultation.
- However, in another assessment for prison the clinical nurse formed the view Monis needed a psychiatric assessment.
- Monis saw a psychologist in 2010 (at the time he was seeing two psychiatrists unbeknownst to each other) who said while he had symptoms of a delusional disorder he had not spent enough time with Monis to give a proper diagnosis.
- A mental health worker who assessed Monis in 2010 found while he had delusional thoughts he was not a threat to himself or others and recommended he be discharged from hospital and referred to a psychiatrist.
Clinical nurse Marco Rec is excused and the inquest is adjourned for lunch.
Monis was asked by Rec if he would harm himself in jail and he said he wouldn’t. In fact he said being in jail was “the best day of my life”. He also told Rec being out of jail was the “best day of my life”.
Rec assessed Monis as:
pleasant, cooperative, don’t look like they’re depressed...they’re quit stable in their mood to be there.
Under thoughts, Rec wrote that Monis’ were logical and sequential. He also wrote that Monis had no delusions. He asked him a series of questions such as:
do you have thoughts you can save the world? do you think you have compuer chips in your brain? do you think the FBI are after you? Do u think the CIA are after you? Do you think the police are after you? Do you think you can save others? Do you think you can read my mind? Do you think I can read your mind?
Monis answered no to all of the questions.
Anna Grigore has been excused and now we have Marco Rec, a fellow clinical nurse who treated Man Haron Monis in 2014.
Monis lied to Rec about his charges as well as his mental health history.
Rec did not have information about Monis’ charges and relied on him self reporting. Monis said he had been charged with common assault, when he was on more than 40 sexual assault charges as well as an accessory to murder.
When asked about past psychiatric and mental health, Monis said he had never seen a psychiatrist or psychologist and did not have a history of mental health issues.
At that time he had seen at least two psychiatrists and had been on medication at one point for schizophrenia, depression and anxiety.
Through the health assessment, clinical nurse Anna Grigore, began to worry about Man Haron Monis’ mental stability.
When Grigore’s raised Monis’ charges he became very agitated and stood up which Grigore found intimidating.
He denied the charges, I think he said ‘it wasn’t anything to do with me’ and he wouldn’t be answering for them... he tried to leave the room.
...he became a little bit intimidating and definitely a little bit suspicious of me. Then it changed again because I was asking about his coping skills, when asked about coping skills he said he’d be fine.
Monis had been in jail before and Grigore said Monis felt he had got on alright although he complained of regular chest pains which she said usually suggest anxiety.
He was just fairly normal until I asked about the charges
...he felt very confident that he would a) leave jail quickly and the he would b) be with other people he knew in the Lebanese community.
Grigore formed the view Monis needed a psychiatric assessment as his behaviour had raised “suspicions” in her mind.
He’d been an accessory to murder, [and had] quite a lot of sexual charges which are quite serious charges, for somebody to flippantly then say he didn’t do anything, that he’d be out soon didn’t seem quite plausible given seriousness of charges.
Grigore’s job is to assess people brought in my corrective services to assess their physical and mental health.
When doing the health assessment of Monis, the nature of it means Grigore’s considered physical health, drug and alcohol intake and mental and emotional health.
She was particularly on look out for suicide risk and potential harm to others.
Grigore says Monis smoked 10 to 15 cigarettes a day, which is one of those tiny details of someone’s life you find out in these inquests.
The inquest resumes with Anna Grigore beginning her evidence. She is a clinical nurse who treated Monis in April 2014.
Psychologist Kasim Abaie says he thought Man Haron Monis had symptoms of some disorders but because he only saw him for two sessions it was difficult to give a diagnosis.
When asked if Monis had symptoms of schizophrenia, Kasim Abaie responds:
It was early to diagnose him.
Abaie said there were symptoms of delusional feelings.
Abaie is excused and the inquest is on a 15 minute break.
Monis told Abaie he had two children in Iran and regarded his wider family as being “hostaged”.
Abaie said he found evidence of delusional thought in his session with Monis.
He believed Asio and police were following him and some people can read his mind or his letters without writing anything.
Abaie said he saw symptoms consistent with post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, major depressive disorder and a sleep disorders. Monis wanted Abaie to write down in his report that Monis did not have mental health problems and to ask Asio and the police to stop following him.
He said he was abused physically, emotionally and psychologically in Iran. He didn’t detail it but said because of his beliefs he was tortured.
Abaie says though he could speak Arabic Monis refused to talk in any other language but the English language. “He was very formal” Abaie says.
He was referred to Abaie by a GP and told Abaie he was suffering from:
- obsessive thoughts
- agitated
- difficulty speaking
- negative thoughts
- low mood
- grieving
- irritability
- decreased appetite
- pain
- low concentration level
- worries
- unable to stop incoming thoughts
During the first session he was friendly, talkative, but a little bit controlling. H was talking without listening.
Abaie also said Monis was “verbally aggressive”.
His verbal aggression was when he was talking about the Afghanistan war and when he was talking about the British Queen. He was against the British involvement in the Afghanistan war and he wanted Australia to withdraw.
Monis had presented as a sheik but Abaie suspected he may not be because of the way he spoke, in particular swearing and “using the F word” about the Queen.
Mental health worker Rebecca O’Brien has been excused, we now are hearing from Kasim Abaie, a psychologist who treated Man Haron Monis in July 2010.
O’Brien’s assessment of Monis was the he was “highly paranoid” and was presenting with some kind of delusional disorder but she was satisfied he did not pose a threat to himself or others.
She recommended he be discharged from the hospital to return to see a psychiatrist.
Monis believed people were reading his email, monitoring his phone calls and watching him at all times including in the bathroom.
Monis did not want O’Brien to contact him by phone because “they” would hear they were talking but he did not know who “they” were or why they were watching.
He said “they” have been following for five years just after he had started getting harassed at the airport.
He did say he was generally “happy” in life so far, apart from recent stress which, he did not specify, over the past five months.
O’Brien was paged to emergency department of Canterbury Hospital in April 17, 2010 to do a mental health assessment of Monis.
Monis had been brought in by ambulance from a carpark, where he had been behaving oddly.
He was complaining of pain, which he said had been happening for five years, but had no physical injuries were evident which is why a mental health assessment was done.
Once I started questioning I was under the impression that he was quite guarded and reluctant to disclose too much information. I just wanted to build rapport in the first instance with him.
Monis told O’Brien he was being followed constantly but O’Brien concluded he did not want to harm anyone.
It’s very important to establish that a paranoid person is not having thoughts abut harming the person or persons they are paranoid about.
The pain Monis was feeling seemed to be a physical manifestation of a psychological problem O’Brien says.
Rebecca O’Brien is now giving evidence. She is a mental health worker who triaged Man Haron Monis at Canterbury Hospital in 2010.
Earlier in the week we heard that Man Haron Monis sent attorney-general George Brandis a letter asking if it was legal to contact Islamic State. Brandis has responded to the information becoming public, saying there is “no reason to believe that any member of the Attorney General’s Department staff would have known that Monis ... was a person of concern at that particular time”.
Shadow attorney general Mark Dreyfus is not letting it go though saying the letter should have prompted further investigation.
Today's witnesses
Here are the witnesses for this morning, the evidence on Monis’ mental health will continue until about lunch time. We will hear from:
Rebecca O’Brien, a mental helth work who triaged Monis before he saw Dr Kristen Barrett
Kasim Abaie - psychologist who treated Monis in July 2010, that brings to three the number of psychologists who Monis saw in 2010, with it seeming none of them knew about the others.
Anna Grigore - a clinical nurse who treated Monis in April 2014.
Marco Rec - a clinical nurse who treated Monis in 2014
Detective senior constable Murray Northey, a fraud and cyber squad member who will give evidence on Monis’ electronic life.
Welcome to day four of the resumed coronial inquest into the deaths of Sydney siege hostages Katrina Dawson and Tori Johnson and gunman Man Haron Monis.
Yesterday we heard Monis may have been suffering psychosis when he took 18 people hostage at the Lindt cafe in Martin Place. We are expecting to hear further evidence on Monis’ mental health this morning and then we will hear evidence about his online life, police have traced his digital footprint, trawling websites he posted on as well as his social media accounts.
Also, the 10 minute podcast my colleague Michael Safi and I have been recording at the end of each day is now available on iTunes. You can stream the latest episode here and all three are in the iTunes library here. We will add at the end of most days of the inquest.
