'Waited for someone to die': Families of Lindt Cafe siege victims criticise police action
As the families of those killed in the Lindt Cafe siege vent their frustrations, NSW Police have condemned the inquest as a "witch-hunt" and "absolute disgrace".
Police stormed the cafe in the early hours of December 16, 2014 after Mans Monis shot dead Tori Johnson 17 hours after the siege started.
Another hostage Katrina Dawson was fatally wounded by at least seven police bullet fragments.
NSW Coroner Michael Barnes is due on Wednesday to hand down his findings to the inquest which began in May, 2015.
Mr Johnson's mother Rosie Connellan said she initially believed the role of police in the events leading to her son's death was straightforward but the evidence at the inquest changed her opinion.
"We thought that Monis had killed Tori and, you know, it was relatively simple: the police had done everything possible and that was it," she told ABC Four Corners program.
Armed police outside the Lindt Cafe. Source: 7 News
Katrina Dawson was hit multiple times by police bullet fragments during the final minutes of the siege.
"As it unfolded it was just, it was horrific. Every day we thought: 'This can't get worse', and every day it got worse what was coming out in evidence," Ms Connellan said.
She was angry police waited until someone was killed before taking action.
"I'll never be able to understand how you can make a calculated decision that you wait for someone to die. It's just beyond me," she said.
Mr Johnson's partner, Thomas Zinn, said he had lost faith in the police.
"I have no trust because of the great level of incompetence that has been revealed," Mr Zinn said.
Lindt Cafe manager Tori Johnson died during the siege.
Hostage-taker Man Monis was shot by police during the final minutes of the siege. . Source: 7 News
Ms Dawson's parents said they sat through the inquest to get answers, not retribution.
"(We wanted them) to admit the mistakes and then talk about what they would do to rectify those mistakes," Ms Dawson's father Sandy Dawson said.
Police condemn 'witch-hunt'
NSW Police Association executive member and acting president Tony King has ridiculed the inquest that "unfairly blamed police officers risking their own lives".
"The real story of the Lindt Cafe is that scores of brave police officers put their lives on the line to protect the public," Mr King said on Monday.
"The reason these people died was that Man Monis was out on bail - for reasons that still haven't been explained," Mr King said in a statement, two days before the findings into the December 2014 siege sparked by terrorist Monis are released.
Mr King posted a 3400-word attack on the inquest to his 16,500 members on Monday.
Police stormed the cafe during the final minutes of the Sydney siege.
"The 14 officers who entered the cafe did so on the assumption there was a bomb that was likely to explode," Mr King wrote.
He said PANSW members were devastated by the tragic deaths of hostages Tori Johnson and Katrina Dawson but said that blaming police was an "absolute disgrace".
Mr King criticised the inquest for "shielding" the DPP and bail decisions from public scrutiny.
"This inquest has failed the community by becoming a witch-hunt into policing rather than a sober, level-headed search for the truth."
