Lindt Cafe siege 'I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO DIE'

LOUISA HOPE RECALLS SURVIVING THE SYDNEY HOSTAGE CRISIS THAT GRIPPED THE WORLD

It was 10 days before Christmas and Louisa Hope was having coffee and toast with her mother in Sydney’s bustling Lindt Cafe, when a man stood up and told everyone they were hostages and Australia was under attack. The venue was directly opposite Channel 7’s city studio in Martin Place, so at first Louisa, then 52, thought it was some sort of TV prank.

“But when he pulled out a gun, I thought, ‘We are going to die,’” Louisa tells WHO.

A decade ago, on December 15, 2014, a disturbing lone brand of terror came to Sydney. In what a coroner called a “horrendous” attack, self-described “Muslim cleric” Man Haron Monis, 50, took 18 people – 10 customers and eight staff – hostage inside the cafe.

In the culmination of a 16-hour crisis that brought the CBD to a standstill, cafe manager Tori Johnson, 34, and lawyer and mother-of-three Katrina Dawson, 38, were killed. Three hostages, including Louisa, suffered injuries.

“It’s tragic beyond words that people going about their everyday business should have been caught up in such a horrific incident,” Prime Minister Tony Abbott said at the time.

After Monis took control of the cafe, he ordered Tori to call emergency services and declare an attack by Islamic State – it later emerged he had no known connection with the terror group. He also falsely claimed he had bombs planted around the city. He forced hostages to stand at windows, some holding Islamic flags.

“Everyone was doing their best to keep him pacified,” recalls Louisa, now 62.