‘I have a hostage’: findings released after fatal siege
Abe Maddison |
Tracked down by police at a motel, Matthew Kim Morgan took his pregnant wife to a window and pointed a shotgun to her head.
During the 48-minute police siege Morgan fired two shots through a back window, set fire to objects and improvised an explosion in a microwave oven.
After threatening his wife at Adelaide’s Tollgate Motel, the drug-affected fugitive was shot dead by a police marksman.
Nine years later, a coroner finally released findings saying the decision to fatally shoot the 24-year-old did not warrant any criticism.
A 2019 inquest had heard Morgan had given a false name to police and an officer had subsequently tried to block his car in October 2017.
However Morgan struck the officer with his vehicle, leaving him concussed.
The next day, police tracked Morgan’s phone to the Tollgate Motel, where he was staying with his pregnant wife Jami-Lee Morgan.
When police checked Morgan’s room, he pointed a sawn-off shotgun through the window towards an unarmed officer and shouted: “I have a f***ing hostage”.
His behaviour over the next 48 minutes was described as “highly erratic” as he fired shots out the window, started fires and improvised the microwave oven explosion.
CCTV footage outside the motel was released, providing audio of the siege.
Over a static shot of the motel car park, Morgan can be heard screaming: “Are you listening cos I am going to blow shit up motherf***er”.
After the sound of breaking glass, Morgan later yells: “Let’s have some fires”.
When Morgan took his wife to the window and threatened to shoot her, she gave evidence saying she “believed at the time that he might do it”.
A police marksman at the rear of the motel room formed the view that after fires were lit “the whole place was going to go up” with Morgan and the hostage inside, State Coroner David Whittle said on Friday.
The marksman made the decision that using his firearm was necessary to protect life, the coroner added.
When Morgan entered the bathroom he was fatally wounded after the officer fired three shots.
A pharmacologist gave evidence that Morgan was “profoundly affected” by amphetamines, while a psychiatrist said his behaviour had “all the ingredients for a drug-induced psychosis”.
Morgan, who had a “complex” mental health history, was wanted by police in South Australia and Queensland and was on bail for offences in NSW.
The SA Police Search System contained 22 warnings for Morgan, including four for weapons and three for threats of violence.
But the full details were not shared with officers at the scene, meaning they were inadequately prepared for the risks they faced, Mr Whittle said.
“It was fortunate that no member of police lost their life that day,” he said.
The 2019 inquest focused on the police information-gathering process before the siege and the decision to shoot Morgan.
“The siege put civilians in adjoining and adjacent rooms, as well as nearby properties, at risk and in fear,” Mr Whittle said.
“I cannot find any criticism to be made of the serious decision to end the siege by taking Mr Morgan’s life.”
He believed the overall incident “could have been dealt with in a safer manner”, but he could not reach a conclusion that Morgan’s death was preventable “other than by varying his own choices”.
There were no recommendations he could make that would contribute to an improvement in public safety.
AAP