A text sent by the New South Wales police chief to his deputy in the critical final hours of the fatal Sydney Lindt cafe siege has been revealed at the inquest.
Andrew Scipione, the NSW police commissioner, sent a lengthy text to Catherine Burn, his deputy, about equipment issues as the siege was under way at Martin Place.
Details of the text were identified late on Monday night following a bid to retrieve messages which Burn had sent during the siege but subsequently deleted.
Burn had forwarded the text from Scipione to her own email address at 10.37pm on the night of 15 December.
The email was presented to the court on Tuesday morning as Burn’s cross-examination by Jeremy Gormly SC, the counsel assisting the inquest, resumed.
“Catherine, I have had a quick chance to talk to the SSG [Specialist Services Group] team that were forward tonight and it has become apparent that we should be preparing a fresh bid for any new equipment that is necessary,” the text, read aloud by Burn to the inquest, said.
“Can you please make sure we get some advice … as to new electronic images/audio/intelligence equipment that we may need for the future.
“I will need this soon in order to make sure we are appropriately prepared for the future. I’m happy to discuss in the morning.
“Thanks again for your hard work today, see you bright and early in the morning. Regards, Andrew.”
Burn said from the witness box the retrieval of the email was a “bit of a shock”.
This fourth and final stage of the long-running inquest into the deaths of gunman Man Haron Monis and hostages Katrina Dawson and Tori Johnson is examining the response to the siege by law enforcement.
Burn, Scipione and Jeff Loy, the acting deputy commissioner, have denied giving any key operational guidance, directions or advice during the stand-off in Martin Place.
Loy told the inquest on Monday that he had received an email from Scipione shortly before midnight on 15 December, regarding the removal of a hostage clip posted to YouTube, that he did not construe to be a direction.
Burn told Phillip Boulten SC, the counsel for Dawson’s family, on Tuesday that she did not have a role in the decision-making process and believed her role to be a source of support.
“I don’t believe I gave advice about how operational decisions should be made, or guidance.”
She said she was given no cause for concern over the police response to the siege while she was on duty during the siege, or after she had handed over late on 15 December.
Though it was implied in Scipione’s text that there had been equipment issues on the night, Burn said she was not made aware of them – nor was she informed about possible issues with resources available to the police negotiations team.
“Nobody brought that to my attention,” she said.
Burn will return to the witness stand on Wednesday morning, before Scipione is scheduled to give evidence.
