Sydney Hostages Plotted To Kill Lone Gunman

In an interview with 60 Minutes on Australia’s Channel 9, two hostages in the Lindt Cafe in 2014 revealed that they had plotted to kill the gunman Man Haron Monis.

Joel Herat and Jarrod Morton-Hoffman, employees of the Lindt Cafe, were held hostage along with 16 other people by Monis, a radical Islamist, in December, 2014.

After being locked in and terrorized for the following 16 hours, the pair hatched a plan to stab Monis.

Speaking to Australia’s Channel 9, Mr. Morton-Hoffman said that, if someone had jumped Monis and pinned his arms, “I would stab him in the jugular” vein in his neck.

“I’ve got this knife in my pocket and I know Joel (Herat) has a knife in his pocket and we are so close, we can do this.”

However, Jarrod started expressing doubts when he realized that the gunman had his gun on his knee pointed directly at pregnant hostage Julie Taylor.

“He was right below me sitting on the lounge and (I thought) do I stab him? What if I miss? What are the consequences of that, you know, who’s he going to shoot?”

In the end, the risk of carrying through the plot proved far too great. The pair eventually called off the plot.

“What if I, you know, dive and then kick the gun out of his hand and stab him? But, you know, I just couldn’t end up doing it. I just… yeah I just couldn’t.”

Marcia Mikhael, another hostage, spoke about how the Army and not the Police should have been involved in the rescue operation.

“I know there are a lot of officers who risked their lives to be there and I thank them from the bottom of my heart. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not being ungrateful to them, but I just think the army would have been a better – more appropriate to be handling this situation.”

According to Mikhael, a police officer told her the prime minister was “a very busy man.”

“I yelled at him… I was in disbelief.”

[Image via ABC]