Tori Johnson's father Ken and a woman console each other near the Lindt chocolate cafe in Martin Place. Photo / AAP
Tori Johnson's father Ken and a woman console each other near the Lindt chocolate cafe in Martin Place. Photo / AAP
Father’s heartbreak resonates with nation shocked by
Martin Place siege.
In five words, Ken Johnson - father of Sydney cafe siege victim Tori Johnson - summed up the emotion surrounding this week's Martin Place tragedy.
"They've killed my beautiful boy," he said.
The heart-breaking sentence, which would resonate with thousands of mourners, was all Ken Johnson managed to say to his sister Lyn Whittaker at 4.30am on Tuesday morning.
His 34-year-old son, a manager at Lindt Chocolate Cafe, was one of 17 taken hostage by gunman Man Haron Monis at 9.45am on Monday in the central Sydney cafe.
When police stormed the building shortly after 2am on Tuesday, Tori Johnson and another hostage - Katrina Dawson, 38, a barrister and mother-of-three - were fatally shot.
"The police officer came on [the phone] and told my husband that Ken couldn't speak any more and this is what has happened.
"Tori had copped a bullet from this terrorist and he had gone."
Tori Johnson and Ms Dawson have been hailed as heroes.
Mr Johnson reportedly wrestled Monis, 50, for his gun, enabling some of the 12 remaining hostages to flee, while Ms Dawson was believed to have been protecting her pregnant friend, Julie Taylor, from gunfire at the end of the siege.
Five hostages escaped on Monday afternoon.
He was a "very brave boy", Ms Whittaker said.
"I don't know if he tried to take over, to protect the other people, but we were told he had a lashing first," she told ABC Radio. "The gunman gave him a bit of a whacking, and then the bullet went off, he lunged at him and the bullet went off."
The families of Mr Johnson and Ms Dawson have visited a make-shift memorial on Martin Place in the past two days.
The father of 21-year-old siege survivor Joel Herat - a colleague of Mr Johnson - yesterday described how his son and five others managed to escape the cafe moments before police stormed the building.
Bruce Herat told the Sydney Morning Herald that contrary to earlier reports, Monis had been alert in the early hours of Tuesday.
He had become agitated and had herded the hostages into separate groups,, Bruce Herat said.
"At that point in time, Joel and five others came to the conclusion that they were not going to survive until the morning if they did not do something. So I think him and Jarrod [19-year-old Jarrod Hoffman] basically came to the conclusion that they would bust down the door. And I know that Joel made sure that Harriette [Denny] ... got behind him and he said, 'You're coming with me', and basically made sure that all that group were ready to go when Joel and Jarrod broke down the door, it was a group of six in total."
Several other hostages have also spoken out.
The family of 43-year-old hostage Marcia Mikhael, who was shot in the leg during the siege, yesterday told the ABC she was in the initial stages of recovery.
Viswakanth Ankireddy told the Sydney Morning Herald he was "getting better every day" and was thinking of the families of Mr Johnson and Ms Dawson.
Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said an urgent and wide-ranging review into the cafe siege would examine how Monis was granted asylum, citizenship and welfare benefits.
NSW Premier Mike Baird said a memorial would be erected in Martin Place to honour the victims.
Siege aftermath
• Family of siege victim Katrina Dawson visit memorial site.
• Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott says the siege may have been preventable. "This was an atrocity - it may well have been a preventable atrocity, and that's why this ... review is important."
• A wide-ranging review into the siege would investigate how Monis was granted asylum, citizenship and welfare benefits.
• Marcia Mikhael, 43, who suffered gunshot wounds to her leg, is in a stable condition at the Royal North Shore Hospital. A police officer and a woman with back pain have been discharged. A 52-year-old woman is in the Prince of Wales Hospital in a stable condition. At least one hostage remains at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.
• SW Premier Mike Baird says a permanent memorial will be erected in Martin Place
