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| Sydney siege inquest: DPP solicitor accused of bungling Monis case gives evidence – rolling report | Sydney siege inquest: DPP solicitor accused of bungling Monis case gives evidence – rolling report |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 2.44pm AEST05:44 | |
| Gormly: Can I put it to you ... that whatever your practice may have been at the time, that the best way for the court to have the bail information, particularly when it was a complex of information, was to provide it to the court in writing and not just do it orally, as was your practice. | |
| That may be the case. | |
| Gormly: Not all the bail information was provided by you to the court. There is more information in this document [the police letter], is there not, than in your oral submissions to the court? | |
| I’d agree with that. | |
| The DPP solicitor also concedes they never asked the police for bail information. | |
| Updated at 2.47pm AEST | |
| 2.38pm AEST05:38 | |
| This is why you don’t throw your notes away: the DPP solicitor has just told the inquest that they binned some of their notes on the Monis matter in November 2014, just a month before the siege. | |
| Gormly asks whether the police letter could have been among these documents. | |
| No ... From memory it was the notes I had made, a copy of the statement of facts. | |
| Are you saying you definitely did not receive the document? | |
| I can’t put it that high. I can simply say to my best recollection I have not seen that document before. | |
| Do you say you may have thrown that away too? | |
| If I received it, if I didn’t retain it, I would have handed it back to the police officer. | |
| Do you think you did that? | |
| My best recollection is that I have not seen that document before. | |
| 2.24pm AEST05:24 | 2.24pm AEST05:24 |
| The key question we’re thrashing out right now is whether or not the DPP ever received the letter discussed below, outlining the police’s concerns about Monis’ being granted bail. | The key question we’re thrashing out right now is whether or not the DPP ever received the letter discussed below, outlining the police’s concerns about Monis’ being granted bail. |
| Counsel assisting, Jeremy Gormly SC, is asking in nine or 10 different ways whether the DPP solicitor would have received the same information orally, whether he may have thrown out the letter by accident, whether he came to discover the information in the letter from other sources etc. | Counsel assisting, Jeremy Gormly SC, is asking in nine or 10 different ways whether the DPP solicitor would have received the same information orally, whether he may have thrown out the letter by accident, whether he came to discover the information in the letter from other sources etc. |
| Much is riding on this. If it can be established that the DPP did receive crucial information regarding Monis, and failed to present it in court, the inquest’s findings are likely to be scathing. | Much is riding on this. If it can be established that the DPP did receive crucial information regarding Monis, and failed to present it in court, the inquest’s findings are likely to be scathing. |
| 2.13pm AEST05:13 | 2.13pm AEST05:13 |
| Our unnamed DPP solicitor is being questioned over a letter produced by detective senior constable Melanie Staples, outlining the police’s concerns with the decision to grant Monis bail in December 2013. | Our unnamed DPP solicitor is being questioned over a letter produced by detective senior constable Melanie Staples, outlining the police’s concerns with the decision to grant Monis bail in December 2013. |
| Staples has claimed that she gave this letter to the DPP on 22 November 2013, and it should have formed part of a challenge to Monis’ bail - one that could potentially have put him behind bars at the time of the Sydney siege. | |
| Did the solicitor ever receive this document? | Did the solicitor ever receive this document? |
| I am confident in saying that I have not seen it before. | I am confident in saying that I have not seen it before. |
| Updated at 2.36pm AEST | |
| 2.00pm AEST05:00 | 2.00pm AEST05:00 |
| DPP solicitor on the stand | DPP solicitor on the stand |
| Good afternoon, a late start to our Sydney siege coverage today. The morning has been taken up by renewed legal wrangling over six key documents, belonging to the Director of Public Prosecutions, that lawyers want examined by the inquiry. | Good afternoon, a late start to our Sydney siege coverage today. The morning has been taken up by renewed legal wrangling over six key documents, belonging to the Director of Public Prosecutions, that lawyers want examined by the inquiry. |
| Finally, we have our first witness on the stand. It’s the DPP solicitor (name suppressed) who had carriage of Man Haron Monis’ charge of accessory to murder in December 2013. | Finally, we have our first witness on the stand. It’s the DPP solicitor (name suppressed) who had carriage of Man Haron Monis’ charge of accessory to murder in December 2013. |
| All throughout the week, police have suggested that part of the reason why Monis was free to stage the siege was because DPP bungled the case against him. | All throughout the week, police have suggested that part of the reason why Monis was free to stage the siege was because DPP bungled the case against him. |
| For the first time, this solicitor will get to give their account. | For the first time, this solicitor will get to give their account. |