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Lindt Cafe siege: Police minister says sniper's decision to sue 'disappointing'
Sarah Wiedersehn
Published: 29/04/2019 Updated: 29 April 2019 5:37 PM
Sniper sues NSW Police
The chief sniper during the Lindt Cafe siege is now suing NSW Police for negligence claiming lives could've been saved if he'd been allowed to do his job properly.
A decision by the chief sniper during the Lindt Cafe siege to sue NSW police for negligence has been called "disappointing and sad" by the police minister.
In a 30-page affidavit, he alleges he has suffered psychological trauma due to decisions taken by his superiors during the siege on December 15, 2014, in which 17 people were taken hostage.
The civil action has been lodged in the NSW District Court on April 12 and will be heard next year in a one-day hearing.
It follows another complaint he made to the Law Enforcement Conduct Commissioner that was dismissed, that claimed senior officers perjured themselves at the initial inquest.
Dawson, 38, died when hit by fragments of police bullets after officers stormed the cafe in the moments after Johnson, 34, was shot dead by terrorist Man Monis.
Flowers at a makeshift memorial near the Lindt cafe in Martin Place. File Credit: Dan Himbrechts/AAP
Police Minister David Elliot says he is disappointed the victims and their families will now have to relive the incident through this new civil law case.
"This matter is now clearly going to be before a court so it's not my job to provide a running commentary on any matter that will be part of the judicial process," Elliot told reporters on Monday.
'All those people who suffered loss ... now have to relive the incident.'
"Obviously the tragedy is that this matter will now be relived for all those who were a party of it.
"I'll think you'll find most people are disappointed that it's come to another legal proceeding.
"I am very disappointed that this matter is before the court, primarily because all those people that were a party to the incident, all those people who suffered loss during the incident, now have to relive the incident, and that's sad."
But the family of Johnson has accused police of a "cover-up", telling News Ltd they have been left feeling "paralysed" by the fact there have been no consequences since an inquest revealed failures in the handling of the terror attack.
The Inquest
In 2017, the Lindt Cafe Siege Inquest made 45 recommendations, including to improve information sharing across jurisdictions and revisit guidelines about military involvement in counter-terror incidents.
Serious questions were raised about "contain and negotiate" strategies during the long-running inquest.
NSW Coroner Michael Barnes found that police waited 10 minutes too long in storming the premises.
With AAP
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