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Inquest: Sydney hostage killed by police fire

January 29, 2015

An inquest into the siege at a Sydney cafe in December has found that one of two hostages who died was hit by police bullet ricochets. The second victim was killed by the gunman responsible for taking the hostages.

https://p.dw.com/p/1ESQg
Australien Geiselnahme in Sydney beendet
Image: Reuters/J. Reed

The inquest at the New South Wales Coroner's Court heard that the 38-year-old barrister and mother-of-three Katrina Dawson was killed when police stormed the Lindt cafe in Sydney's financial district in the early hours of December 16. Gunman Man Haron Monis had held 18 people hostage for 16 hours.

"Ms Dawson was struck by six fragments of a police bullet or bullets which ricocheted from hard surfaces into her body," counsel Jeremy Gormly said.

"I will not detail the damage done to Ms Dawson other than to say that one fragment struck a major blood vessel. She lost consciousness quickly and died shortly afterwards," he added.

Trauerfeier nach Geiselnahme in Sydney 23.12.2014
Image: Getty Images/D. Arnold

Gormly told the hearing that 34-year-old cafe manager Tori Johnson was killed when he was shot in the back of the head by Monis with a sawed-off shotgun. He was made to kneel on the floor just moments after several hostages fled the cafe.

Iranian-born Monis, who was also killed when police stormed the cafe last month, had a history of religious activism and was facing various criminal charges.

A separate, joint investigation commissioned by the Federal and New South Wales governments is set to submit a report into the siege in the next few days.

kb/jm (AFP, AP)