Sydney: Australia’s government pledged on Tuesday to determine why an Iranian-born Islamist with a history of extremism and violence was able to play out a “sick fantasy” by seizing hostages in a day-long siege. A giant sea of flowers was laid at a makeshift memorial near the scene in the heart of Sydney’s financial quarter, where Muslim community leaders joined their fellow citizens in mourning the two victims of Monday’s cafe siege.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott conceded that the dead gunman, identified in reports as 50-year-old refugee Man Haron Monis, had evaded greater scrutiny despite being accused of serious crimes including sexual offences and abetting in murder.“How can someone who has had such a long and chequered history not be on the appropriate watch lists and how can someone like that be entirely at large in the community?,” Mr Abbott said.
Emotions were raw as Australia struggled with the news that two hostages were killed when the 16-hour standoff reached a dramatic climax in the early hours of Tuesday, as police commandos stormed the Lindt eatery, leaving Monis also dead.Meanwhile, two hostages who were killed in the attack were identified as the manager of the Lindt Chocolate cafe and 38-year-old lawyer, Katrina Dawson, who was a mother of three young children.
She was a barrister at Selbourne Chambers and was married to Paul Smith, a partner at Mallesons.Lindt Chocolate cafe’s 34-year-old manager Tori Johnson had worked at the cafe since October 2012 and at a string of other restaurants and hospitality companies around Sydney.Iran’s media reacted on Tuesday to the deadly hostage siege in Sydney by pointing the finger of blame at the West and linking the Iranian-born gunman to Islamic State group militants.
Cafe manager tried to snatch attacker’s gun
Tori Johnson, the 34-year-old manager of Lindt Chocolat Cafe, who was one of two persons killed during the Sydney siege, is being remembered as a hero with some reports claiming that he tried to snatch the weapon from the gunman to allow the other hostages to escape.
Johnson died in hospital after being shot by the gunman inside the cafe on Monday. He was the son of acclaimed Australian artist Ken Johnson and his former wife Rowena.Deputy police commissioner Catherine Burn did not confirm the claims about Johnson’s heroic act but said police was yet to piece together what had transpired in the cafe and that investigation could take many months.The gunman was identified as Man Haron Monis who wasan a radical cleric.
