Last December, Man Haron Monis held 18 people hostage at the Lindt Cafe in Sydney’s Martin Place, and murdered two of them as police stormed the cafe at 2am.
Except he may not have. It now appears clear that hostage Katrina Dawson was killed by a police bullet. Guy Rundle’s piece in Crikey today, Nick Ralston’s article in the Fairfax papers at the weekend, and Rick Feneley’s follow up piece on Monday, raise many urgent questions about the siege.
For the sake of the dead at Martin Place, their families, and ahead of possible similar events in the future, the joint NSW-Commonwealth inquiry into the Martin Place siege, announced by Tony Abbott in the wake of the tragic event, needs to be completely transparent and independent of the police forces involved. Its full findings must be made available to the public.
Anything less is a betrayal, not merely of the Australian public, but of the recent dead, their families, and their right to the truth.
That couldn’t be right could it?
That storming, such a confined space, all those trained marksmen, all those rounds – how could one of them not have noticed his gun pointing at an inappropriate target when discharged? It will have to be a ricochet won’t it?
Of course there should be and there will be a thorough enquiry whether Crikey “calls for it” or not.
It may not satisfy those in the Crikey Collective who can’t understand something as simple as the effects of ricochet bullets, but that would be hoping for too much from them.
Norman, I think we have all heard of ricocheting bullets, but don’t you think we deserve to find out if this is actually what happened? Why not?
Jill, of course there’ll be an adequate Enquiry; but in the meantime, Crikey will bleat on with distracting non-issues in its efforts to divert discussion in unhelpful directions.
Tight lines, Norman.