The Siege Survivors 60 Minutes : Season 2015 Episode 1

The Siege Survivors On Monday, December 15, 2014, gunman Man Monis took control of the Lindt Café in Martin Place, Sydney, holding 18 people hostage. Next Sunday on Channel Nine, a 60 Minutes special report will tell the whole story of what happened inside the café, according to the hostages who saw it all. Eight of the survivors have told their story to Liz Hayes, and for the first time they reveal their detailed and harrowing accounts of the terrifying ordeal, and how they fought for their survival. They include: Paolo Vassallo, 36, father of two Lindt Café Kitchen Supervisor Paolo started work at the Lindt Café in the same week as Tori Johnson in October 2012. They were close friends. That morning his two children (one three, one six months old) and his wife were still asleep when he left for work, and he didn’t get to say goodbye. That would play on Paolo’s mind as he struggled with his decision to make a run for it. When John O’Brien and Stefan Balafoutis escaped out the front door, Paolo took his chance. Harriette Denny, 30, secretly pregnant Lindt Café Barista Harriette would arrive for work every morning half an hour early to have coffee with Tori before preparing to open the café. She is the mother hen of the café workers, who was also 14 weeks pregnant. Only one other person in the café knew Harriette was carrying a child. Joel Herat, 21, student Café Worker Joel was running late for work that day. He was in the kitchen when Monis took control of the café, and was passed a knife and scissors by Jarrod Morton-Hoffman and told “we might need these”. Joel would facilitate hostage videos being uploaded to YouTube and social media. Jarrod Morton-Hoffman, 19, student Café Worker Despite having worked at the café for 10 months it was Jarrod’s first ever morning shift. Jarrod would prove to be the crucial link between police negotiators and Monis, repeatedly calming him down through the course of the day and eve