Police said prosecutor on Man Haron Monis bail hearing 'terrible', court told
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Version 0 of 1. Senior police were deeply critical of the public prosecutor’s handling of a case in which the Sydney siege gunman, Man Haron Monis, was granted bail a year before the tragedy. An email revealed in court on Wednesday shows the head of the NSW homicide squad told his superior that a director of public prosecutions (DPP) solicitor was “terrible and clearly not across the brief” after Monis was granted bail in 2013. Related: Sydney siege inquest to look at why Man Haron Monis was on bail Monis was granted bail on accessory to murder charges on 12 December 2013 and remained on bail for that and multiple sexual assault charges when he took 18 people hostage in Sydney’s Lindt Cafe a year later. “Boss, it’s a disappointing decision, that’s for sure,” the head of the New South Wales homicide squad, Det Supt Michael Willing, said in the email to assistant commissioner Mark Jenkins. “Dicko [Det Insp Jason Dickinson] advises me that the DPP solicitor was terrible and clearly not across the brief.” The email was read out during a hearing in which the DPP is fighting to keep documents relating to Monis’s bail confidential, ahead of the Sydney siege inquest looking at the bail issue from next Monday. The coroner, Michael Barnes, is expected to decide later on Wednesday whether any or all of the documents – which include emails and other communications between DPP solicitors and police – will remain secret. Lawyers representing the families of siege victims have opposed the DPP’s claim to confidentiality. |