2014 Sydney hostage crisis
The 2014 Sydney hostage crisis, also known as the Sydney siege and Lindt Cafe siege, occurred on 15–16 December 2014 when a lone gunman, Man Haron Monis, held hostage ten customers and eight employees of a Lindt chocolate café located at Martin Place in Sydney, Australia. Police treated the event as a terrorist attack at the time, but Monis' motives were subsequently debated. However, the findings of the Coroner in 2017 deemed the event to be a terrorist attack.
Sydney siege inquest
Bruce Hoffman, a US terrorism expert, gave supporting evidence that Monis' actions were inspired by ISIS, that the siege was an act of terrorism, and that his mental health issues did not change this. Hoffman gave Theodore Kaczynski as another example of a terrorist who was radicalised despite significant mental health issues. It was heard that ASIO considered Monis a "serial pest", as he had given them several false tip-offs in the past. Kate Barelle, a forensic psychologist, regarded Monis as atypical for a radicalised person, saying that he acted like "someone who had backed himself into a corner" during the siege.