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Lindt Cafe siege: Tori Johnson’s family wants police commanders’ jobs reviewed

Sydney siege victims Katrina Dawson (left) and Tori Johnson.

Sydney siege victims Katrina Dawson (left) and Tori Johnson. Photo: Supplied

The family of Tori Johnson has called on the NSW Police Commissioner to review the current positions of the two most senior commanders in charge at the end of the Lindt Cafe siege.

Speaking exclusively to ABC’s Four Corners, Mr Johnson’s family said the siege commander, Assistant Commissioner Mark Jenkins, and the forward commander, whose name was suppressed, gave no indication they had learnt from mistakes made on the night.

“I think … throughout the inquest they have proven that they didn’t understand the consequences of their actions and they didn’t understand the failures,” Mr Johnson’s partner, Thomas Zinn, said.

“That means, from our point of view, they are not going to learn from it. They’re not going to make things better.”

Both commanders had the authority to initiate the rescue operation of the hostages in the crucial final hours of the siege.

The forward commander only gave the order for police to storm the cafe after gunman Man Haron Monis shot and killed Mr Johnson at 2:13am.

At the inquest, the forward commander said: “Presented with the same facts that I knew at 2.03 to 2.13 on that day, if I was presented with those same facts … I would do what I did then, today.”

Under questioning, Assistant Commissioner Jenkins refused to accept he had wrongly assessed the risk and danger posed by Monis in the final hours of the siege.

Mr Johnson’s mother, Rosie Connellan said: “It takes great strength to admit failures. I think that would’ve reassured everybody that they had learnt from their mistakes.”

While Coroner Michael Barnes’ findings criticised many aspects of the police operation and said police waited too long to enter the stronghold to rescue hostages, he said he could not “stress too heavily” the deaths of Mr Johnson and Katrina Dawson were not the fault of police.

“All of the blame for those rests on the shoulders of Man Monis,” he said.

The Johnson family said while it was a relief for the inquest to be over, for them, the findings did not go far enough.

“We felt it was a focus on giving the police credibility and the public reassurance that they’ve got all under control and in my view that’s just not based on any facts,” Mr Zinn said.

“I would’ve expected some heavy criticism of their decision making.”

Ms Dawson’s brother, Angus Dawson, said he appreciated the bravery of the frontline police, but questioned their leaders’ effectiveness.

“My image of the siege will always be of those police in full tactical gear surrounding the cafe willing to put their lives on the line to go in, the hostages inside, Tori and Katrina being so brave in all the things that they did during the day,” he said.

“But then this other image of these leaders of the police force making all these mistakes and letting everyone down.”

Police culture a ‘problem’

The Dawson family mostly supported the coroner’s findings but remained angry at what they saw as the stubborn refusal of police leadership to more broadly concede their mistakes during the inquest.

“The cultural problem I’m more worried about in the police force was the one afterwards to not actually address the mistakes and to not own up to them and to hide behind the bravery of the front-line police officers — for leadership not to step up and take responsibility,” Ms Dawson’s brother, Sandy Dawson Jnr, said.

“That’s the culture that I want to see changed.

“No-one was prepared to do that for the entirety of the inquest and it is demeaning and unfair that families like ours and families like the Johnsons are reduced to a cliche of begging for the truth.”

Both the families welcomed NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller’s admission to Four Corners that he thought police should have launched a pre-emptive rescue earlier in the day.

“The coroner has revealed so many errors, so many failures that you can conclude that the entire management of the siege was a disaster and it cannot happen again that way ever,” Mr Dawson Jnr said.

“That is why Commissioner Fuller saying what he said is encouraging. It is the first ray of light we have seen from the police through this entire saga.”

Commissioner Fuller told Four Corners police should have stormed the cafe at 2.03am after Monis fired his gun at escaping hostages.

“We certainly should’ve gone in earlier. The challenge in that of course is that that doesn’t guarantee there won’t be a loss of life,” he said.

“I think the family members should feel disappointed, they should feel let down and I’ll obviously own that going forward as the Commissioner.”

Commissioner Fuller also said police were working quickly through the coroner’s recommendations and some had already been implemented.

“I think it was a big step for the police,” Mr Zinn said.

“I doubt that would’ve occurred under different leadership.”

Ms Connellan added: “It’s amazing isn’t it? That just that little acknowledgement from Fuller that they should have gone in, to me has been probably the most hopeful.

“It is a beginning … an important beginning. He’s got to have died for something, some hope that there’s change.”

Katrina’s father, Sandy Dawson Snr, said: “It’s obviously too late for us but hopefully it’s in time for anybody else.”

‘We’re all in grave danger’

Mr Zinn believes police are still “unprepared” for another terrorist attack.

“While these findings may help us to manage the same situation better next time, I think we’ll continue to be unprepared for a [terrorist] situation that might be even more complex,” he said.

“What if Monis had been a trained terrorist, better-equipped terrorist with more resources, with more sophistication? That is what we are likely to face in the future.”

Rosie Connellan agreed: “We’re all in grave danger, aren’t we, if that’s the case.”

Mr Dawson Jnr said it remained to be seen if lessons had been learnt.

“There is an opportunity there for Commissioner Fuller and others to change the way things are done to protect the citizens of this country in the future,” he said.

“If that is done in Katrina’s name, then maybe that’s enough but we and the Johnson family have to live our lives without two very special people in them because of a system that patently failed on the day, was never in place before the day began and hopefully now will be.”

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