EXCLUSIVE
The cop who saved lives by taking down an Islamist terrorist almost 10 years ago still can’t be identified for legal reasons, and could go to prison if he speaks out about what happened.
On December 15-16 2014, Man Horon Monis held 18 hostages in the Lindt Cafe on Martin Place in Sydney in a 16-hour standoff with police.
Monis was armed with a pump shotgun, which he used to kill cafe manager Tori Johnson, and said he had a bomb in his backpack.
The man who can only be referred to as Officer A, was part of the Tactical Operations Unit (TOU) Alpha team, and shot Monis dead bringing the siege to an end in the early hours of the morning.
Ever since, his name has been suppressed without ever being given a clear reason, and it’s hugely affecting his life and making his post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) worse.
The cop who saved lives by taking down an Islamist terrorist almost 10 years ago still can’t be named for legal reasons, and he desperately wants his name back. A heavily armed police officer is pictured at the scene on December 15, 2014
A hostage is pictured running to a police officer outside the Lindt Cafe in Sydney on December 15, 2014
‘It was initiated during the Coroner’s inquest,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.
‘It was actually put forth by my legal team initially… a standard to stop reprisal attacks.
‘Since then, we’ve made numerous requests to the Coroner (Teresa O’Sullivan) who has told us that she can’t do anything.’
His legal team has told him they believe that this isn’t correct and that the Coroner does have the power to take action.
Under the gag order, Officer A could face 28 days in prison for each time he breaches the ban plus an additional $2,200 fine per each offense.
‘My thoughts are (the Police) don’t want it brought back up,’ he said. ‘They know they messed up on that day and they just want to silence me.’
The longer the suppression of his name goes on, the more it affects him, and he had to write his book as Officer A, with his name blacked out throughout it.
It also stops him from being able to help others, especially as he had to leave the police due to PTSD.
‘I want to speak to people with similar issues to mine … emergency service personnel and ex-military and just anyone with PTSD,’ he said.
‘And I believe that my story and the way that I approach PTSD and refuse to let it beat me, I believe I could be helping a substantial number of people out there.
‘So not only does it affect me on a personal level, but I believe that I could do some real good out there, and as it stands now, I’m not allowed to.’
Ironically, Officer A had his mandatory routine appointment with a psychologist on the morning of December 15, 2014.
As he got back to the office, two of his TOU colleagues were rushing out.
‘There’s a counterterrorism job at Martin Place. Grab your gear, we’re going now,’ the sergeant shouted out.
‘So, it’s finally happened?’ Officer A called back, as he recounted in his book Tiger! Tiger! Tiger! The Lindt Cafe Siege.
‘We all knew it was just a matter of time, especially since the 9/11 attacks in the US,’ he wrote.
Hours later, before the operation the ended the siege, Officer A said he ‘was resigned to the idea that I was never going to see my wife and daughter again.
‘I wasn’t ever going to hold the unborn baby that (my wife) was carrying, let alone see the rest of my family and good friends again.
‘I said my goodbyes through text messages as best I could, without revealing our exact predicament.’
He and his fellow officers survived, Monis did not and lives were saved.
But a decade on, and despite the coronial inquest into the siege being closed, Officer A’s name is permanently suppressed.
Louisa Hope, one of the survivors who has become a friend of his, set up an online petition to help pressure the NSW Government to allow him to get his name back.
On December 15-16 2014, Man Horon Monis (pictured) held 18 hostages in the Lindt Cafe on Martin Place in Sydney in a 16-hour standoff with police
Hostages are pictured holding up a black flag with Islamic writing in the Lindt Cafe in December 2014
The ban on linking his real name to what happened in the Lindt Cafe 10 years ago makes it almost impossible to make new friends, something which is vitally important now.
‘I’m separated and in the process of divorce, which is brought about through PTSD. It’s a familiar story, sadly,’ he said.
‘PTSD has affected my life and my fight against it, affecting me with my three daughters. Of course it’s taken its toll on me.’
Officer A has a message for NSW Premier Chris Minns. ‘Firstly, why do you keep ignoring my request?
‘And secondly, this order that’s in force through the coroner, it seems that order is now in existence forever.
‘So for me that, that needs to be looked at on a legal front. How can such an order be enforced forever?
‘And I’d like him to address it.’
Anything to do with the law is very expensive, as Officer A is well aware.
He added: ‘I think that’s what they are thinking, that if I have to open a whole new inquest, it would cost tens and tens of thousands of dollars…
‘I think that’s probably what they’re thinking, that I can’t obviously afford to fund that, so I’ll just go away.’
He wants to make it clear that his purpose is not to try to attack the NSW Police, he just wants his life back.
‘The way I wrote the book, I didn’t really attack the police hierarchy at all,’ he said. ‘I believe that’s already been and done and that’s out there in the public eye.
‘And I think I was very fair in the way that I wrote the book, even acknowledging some of their decisions.
‘So the point of it would never be to go out and attack police hierarchy and the decisions made on the day. Definitely not.’
In his Coronial Inquest findings, the then NSW State Coroner Michael Barnes wrote that ‘Against what standard does one judge a man demanded to stare down death to save strangers.
‘Who will dare say that they could have done better.’
All Officer A wants now is the right to use his name again.
People are pictured running with their hands up from the Lindt Cafe on December 16, 2014
Paramedics are pictured working at the end of the siege at the Lindt Cafe on December 16, 2014
Flowers are pictured outside the Lindt Cafe in Martin Place, Sydney on December 23, 2014
A spokesperson for the NSW Attorney General Michael Daley told Daily Mail Australia that ‘The Coroners Court Act 2009 provides the legal framework for the making of non-publication orders by the Coroners Court.
‘Generally, non-publication orders are a matter for the parties and the relevant court. Anyone seeking to have a non-publication order varied or revoked should seek independent legal advice to consider the specific circumstances of their case.
‘The Attorney General cannot offer legal advice in relation to specific cases,’ they said.
NSW Premier Chris Minns, State Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan and the NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb were also contacted for this story, none of whom replied.