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Families of Lindt Cafe victims ‘can’t forgive’ police

Katrina Dawson (L) and her mother, Jane.

Katrina Dawson (L) and her mother, Jane. Photo: ABC

The families of those killed in the 2014 Sydney siege have hit out at the police officers involved, describing their decisions as “staggering” and something they “can’t forgive”.

Tori Johnson and Katrina Dawson tragically lost their lives on December 16, 2014, after crazed gunman Man Haron Monis held 18 staff members and customers hostage at the Lindt Cafe in Sydney’s CBD.

Mr Johnson, who managed the cafe, was shot and killed by Monis, while barrister Ms Dawson was killed by police gunfire when officers eventually stormed the facility. Monis was also killed by police.

A coronial inquest into the tragic event revealed officers only planned to intervene if Monis killed or seriously injured a hostage, something Ms Dawson’s brother, Angus – interviewed as part of an emotional Four Corners episode – struggles to come to terms with.

“The idea that we had to wait for somebody to be killed or seriously injured before the police would act was staggering,” he said.

Mr Johnson’s mother, Rosie Connellan, said the police tactics were “beyond me.”

“I can’t forgive people for that trigger,” she said.

“I’ll never be able understand how you can make a calculated decision that you wait for someone to die. It’s just beyond me.”

Ms Connellan said initially she thought her son’s death was “relatively simple” and that “the police had done everything possible and that was it”.

But she said that as the coronial inquest went on, “it was just horrific”.

“Every day we thought: ‘This can’t get worse’, and every day it got worse – what was coming out in evidence.”

Ms Dawson’s mother, Jane, said in the episode that she feels “very let down” by the police, while her husband, Sandy, urged police to acknowledge they handled the incident poorly.

“I think we all had this feeling that the police are there to protect us all and that they know what they’re doing — that’s one of the worst things about this is that we feel very let down,” she said.

“What I said in the beginning was that we weren’t after retribution. But what we did want desperately was for them to have the courage to tell the truth.”

Sandy Dawson added: “[We wanted them] to admit the mistakes and then talk about what they would do rectify those mistakes.

“But we never saw anything like that.”

Sydney siege

Tori Johnson (right) and his partner Thomas Zinn. Photo: ABC

Mr Johnson’s partner of 14 years, Thomas Zinn, slammed the “incompetence” of police and said he had lost faith in them as a result.

“I have no trust because of the great level of incompetence that has been revealed,” Mr Zinn said.

“If there is no recognition in the authorities that mistakes were made and that these failures have happened, then this learning will never occur and this culture will not change.”

Psychiatrist said gunman was bluffing: police

During the coronial inquest, a psychiatrist brought in to advise the negotiators for a peaceful outcome, told officers that the siege gunman was not a terrorist, and that he was “grandstanding”.

Police took this to mean Monis was bluffing.

“I truly believed Monis didn’t have it in him to hurt anyone,” Assistant Commissioner Mark Murdoch told the inquest.

The families believe police commanders relied too heavily on the expertise of the psychiatrist, and that his decision put the hostages at serious risk.

“When the psychiatrist declared that Monis wasn’t a terrorist, it just seemed like we were in the twilight zone,” Angus Dawson said.

“We had the Counter Terrorism Unit in charge and yet we had the psychiatrist declaring that the perpetrator wasn’t a terrorist.

“I mean, what was going on?”

The New South Wales Coroner will hand down his findings into the events at Sydney’s Martin Place on Wednesday.

The Four Corners special investigation into the Sydney siege continues next Monday night on ABC.

– with ABC

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