Tactical police waited “10 minutes” too long to storm the Lindt Cafe siege, which left two hostages dead in December 2014, NSW coroner Michael Barnes has found.
Mr Barnes on Wednesday handed down his findings into the siege, declaring it a terrorist incident and finding that Man Haron Monis alone was responsible for the deaths, not police despite issues with their handling of the 17-hour siege.
“I cannot stress too heavily that the deaths and injuries that occurred as a result of the siege were not the fault of the police,” Mr Barnes said.
“All of the blame for those rest Man Haron Monis.”
Two hostages, cafe manager Tori Johnson and barrister Katrina Dawson, were killed at the end of the siege, alongside hostage taker Man Monis.
Mr Barnes said Man Monis “maliciously” executed Mr Johnson, while Ms Dawson was killed by fragments from police bullets, in what Mr Barnes said was “a terrible accident”.
The coroner said an emergency action “should have been initiated” by tactical police following the first shot of Monis at 2.03am on December 16.
“The 10 minutes that lapsed without decisive action by police was too long,” Mr Barnes said.
“Tori Johnson was executed in the meantime before the decision to enter the cafe was made.”
He said the first shot “made it clear there was little to no chance of resolving the siege”.
New NSW police commissioner Nick Fuller has conceded armed officers should have been sent in earlier to rescue the hostages.
“In hindsight, as with everything, we know we should have gone in earlier,” he’s told ABC TV’s Four Corners program to air next week.
“It does not guarantee there will not be a loss of life … but clearly a deliberate action is a much more professional action and a lower risk in terms of emergency action.”
Mr Barnes praised the bravery of the frontline police officers who smashed their way into the cafe knowing Monis was armed with a gun and he would almost certainly use against them.
They also thought – wrongly as it turned out – that he was carrying a bomb that would kill everyone in the cafe unless they could kill him before he detonated it.
“The bravery of these officers inspires all,” Mr Barnes said.
The coroner noted, however, that commanding officers came under intense scrutiny during the 23-week inquest.
He acknowledged “the burden of command they carried” knowing the dangers they were requiring their subordinates to confront when they went into the cafe.
But he was critical of issues with hostages being able to contact police.
He revealed that late calls by hostages to a number they had been told would connect them with a negotiator were not answered.
He said an unknown number of calls were also diverted to other telephones within the police force.
“This was a significant failure in a basic component of siege management.”
While commanders and tactical officers receive specialist training in how to deal with terrorist, negotiators receive little guidance if any.
He recommended a mechanism be developed to make sure all information on criminal history is accessible to police and prosecutors across all jurisdictions.
He was also highly critical that Man Monis had been granted bail despite being charged with being an accessory to his ex-wife’s murder.
But he said NSW police and the Director of Public Prosecutions were unaware of commonwealth charges he was facing.
The coroner has also declared the siege was an act of terror, even though it was still unclear whether Man Monis was motivated by Islamic State or whether he used it “to bolster his own ends.”
“Either way, he adopted extreme violence with a view of influencing government action or public opinion concerning Australia’s involvement in armed conflict in the Middle East,” he found.
The families of Ms Dawson and Mr Johnson are at the court to hear the findings.
Source: Lindt inquest: Monis blamed, police errors | Perth Now
