A public prosecutor did not use information police gave him about bail risks posed by Sydney siege gunman Man Haron Monis because he did not think it was persuasive, a court has heard.
When Monis sought bail in December 2013 over an accessory to murder charge, his solicitor tendered a 30-page brief arguing that he should be given his freedom.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) solicitor, arguing Monis should remain behind bars, gave the court a police statement of facts about the murder case and a document listing Monis's criminal history - a few pages.
The siege inquest heard on Friday that the DPP solicitor did not use information emailed to him by police outlining reasons against Monis getting bail, including flight risks such as him having regained his passport and having links to Malaysia.
The solicitor, who cannot be named, rejected a suggestion from counsel assisting the inquest, Jeremy Gormly SC, that he did not mention the information in opposing bail because he had not prepared properly.
"I didn't believe that it was persuasive," the solicitor said.
The issue of how Monis came to be on bail at the time of the December 2014 siege is a focus of the present phase of the inquest.
Monis was granted or allowed to remain on bail three times in the year before the Sydney siege: in December 2013, on the accessory to murder charge; in May 2014, on three sexual assault charges; and in October 2014 - eight weeks before the tragedy - on a further 37 sexual assault charges.
Homicide Detective Senior Constable Melanie Staples has told the inquest she followed up on her November 2013 email to the solicitor by handing him a letter detailing bail risks.
Importantly, the letter pointed out Monis had breached an existing bail he was on for writing offensive letters to the families of dead Australian soldiers - a breach that may have seen his bail request refused.
On Friday the solicitor contradicted Det Sen Con Staples' evidence, saying he had not seen the letter before this week.
"My best recollection is that I did not receive this document," the solicitor said.
The prosecutor defended his handling of the bail application, saying he had marshalled his argument against bail as best he could.
He believed the argument against bail was weak, he said, and he did not agree with the police position that Monis had to satisfy exception conditions to receive bail.
"I felt under siege and I felt I was doing the best I could," he told the inquest.
Homicide detectives were scathing of the solicitor's handling of the case - with an email revealed at the inquest showing one detective told his superior the solicitor was "terrible" and not across the brief.
While Det Sen Const Staples has accepted in court that it was unfair to call the solicitor's performance terrible, the solicitor told the inquest he was "disappointed in the way the application was proceeding".
Asked if he told Det Sen Const Staples during the hearing that he was disappointed in his own performance, the solicitor replied: "I can't exclude that as a possibility."
The hearing will resume on Monday.
Share
