Bay woman tells of terror in Sydney

Tracee Parr, who has been living in Sydney for four-and-a-half years, was terrified as the 31-storey building where she works went into lockdown. Photo / Supplied

A former Tauranga woman was terrified and feared for her safety as central Sydney was locked down yesterday during an armed siege.

Up to 30 people were being held hostage by an armed gunman who stormed into a cafe with a gun and forced crying women to hold a black flag with white Arabic writing up to the window yesterday morning.

Tracee Parr, a 45-year-old former Pillans Point resident who has been living in Australia for four-and-a-half years spoke to the Bay of Plenty Times just before five people fled from the cafe where they had been held hostage for more than nine hours.

Ms Parr, a former Tauranga Girls' College student, said she was scared as she and her co-workers were told they could not leave the 31-storey building they worked in, 600m from where the siege was taking place.

Witnesses described how a man wearing a headband covered in Arabic walked into the Lindt cafe in Martin Place and produced a shotgun from a blue bag about 11.45am New Zealand time. Initially talking to the Bay of Plenty Times from the top floor of the building on Bond St, Ms Parr said the entire office block was locked down where staff were evacuated to the first floor.

"I'm right in the CBD, close to where the siege is taking place at the moment. We are currently in lockdown. We are not allowed to leave the building. Basically the whole of the city is in lockdown."

You have no idea, they have shut down the Opera House, which is quite major. That made it really hit home ... I just wanted to be back home in Tauranga.

Tracee Parr

Ms Parr learned of the situation after a colleague from work said there had been a hold-up in a local cafe. They turned on the local news.

"Until I saw the ... flags I was quite calm but then saw them and the people pushed up against the windows on the TV and thought, oh s---, this is serious stuff, it was very, very scary as you have no control over anything [in a situation like this].

"There are people up against the window with their faces and hands and talks of beheading and all sorts. I don't want to be here."

Ms Parr said she had learned there could "be devices all over the city".

"You have no idea, they have shut down the Opera House, which is quite major. That made it really hit home ... I just wanted to be back home in Tauranga."

Ms Parr was eventually able to get out of the CBD and a ride home with a friend later yesterday afternoon.

"You just don't know. It's the unknown. You don't know what people are capable of. They say one comment about bombs and beheading and then you really don't know what to think. It's another level of fear. I'm lucky, now [to have gotten out]."

She said would normally catch a bus home but "there was no chance I was doing that". Tracee Parr said she phoned her mother, Marg Parr, who lives in Mount Maunganui.

I was in the city and was going to the Salvation Army to sign up to help the homeless but got told to turn back. So I told other people to leave the area too.

Jackie Reid

Marg Parr told the Bay of Plenty Times that it was only a close distance from her daughter's work place to the Lindt cafe. "She rang earlier and told us to put the TV on but not to be frightened and her building was in lockdown. She sounded concerned."

Mrs Parr said she was "dreadfully concerned" for her daughter and did not like her being in Australia during times like these. "Very frightening ... I would have gone ballistic if I had seen the news without talking to her first."

Jackie Reid, a former Bay of Plenty resident, said she was in Martin Pl when she was told to go home by police.

"I was in the city and was going to the Salvation Army to sign up to help the homeless but got told to turn back. So I told other people to leave the area too," she said.

Ms Reid said she was frightened because she was at the cafe last week and was planning on going there next Monday for lunch.

"They closed the roads. The city is in lockdown, the Harbour Bridge is closed and Opera House is evacuated too."

Another former Tauranga woman, who did not want to be identified, said police had stopped traffic on the street outside her work and had put barricades up. She said it was "shocking stuff".

A number of other Bay of Plenty people have been caught up in the drama.