The Sydney siege survivor Julie Taylor has spoken of her heartbreak at losing her best friend and barrister colleague Katrina Dawson in the Lindt cafe attack.
Dawson, a 38-year-old barrister and mother of three, was killed along with Tori Johnson, the 34-year-old manager of the cafe, after being taken hostage by Man Haron Monis.
Taylor, 35, who worked with Dawson at the law firm Eight Selborne chambers in Martin Place, said her friend was “the most wonderful person I have ever met”.
“She was my closest friend, a role model and confidant,” she said in a statement. “Her bravery and strength was, and continues to be, a comfort and inspiration for me.
“She invested every moment of her life in her friends and family, and will be greatly missed by everyone who has known her. My thoughts and sympathy are with her family, whom I have come to know and love.”
Three members of the chambers were held hostage in the cafe, according to a statement from the New South Wales Bar Association. Taylor, who is almost 20 weeks pregnant, was forced to appear in one of the propaganda videos made by the gunman during the siege.
Taylor described how Johnson was level-headed and courageous throughout the ordeal, which began Monday morning and lasted more than 16 hours. She expressed her sympathy to his family, and thanked the other hostages for their support.
“Although our acquaintance was forged under the worst imaginable circumstances, I feel privileged to have known you and I will always remember you as a kind, considerate, level-headed and courageous person,” Taylor said of Johnson.
“It was clear to me how much you loved your family, and how much compassion you had for everyone you met. I am grateful that you were with me throughout our ordeal.”
Seeing the sea of flowers at Martin Place had provided her with strength, she said, and she thanked the public for their messages of support, which had made a difficult time more bearable. Taylor said she was grateful to the paramedics and hospital staff.
She said she and her husband had been told that their unborn baby was healthy and unharmed.
“If all goes well, and there is no reason to think that it won’t, we will give birth to a precious baby in a few months,” she said. “Although it is an emotional time, we are trying to focus on keeping ourselves healthy so that can occur.”