A touching tribute to a dearly departed friend.
Lindt Cafe hostage Julie Taylor has given birth to a baby girl – and in a beautiful tribute to best friend and fellow hostage Katrina Dawson, the baby’s middle name will be Katrina.
Ms Taylor, a Sydney barrister, was 19 weeks pregnant on the day of the Sydney Siege, when Man Haron Monis held up the popular Lindt Cafe at gunpoint.
While Ms Taylor made it out alive, her close friend Katrina was shot during the 16-hour siege, and later tragically died from her injuries.
Ms Taylor previously described Katrina as “the most wonderful person I have ever met.”
She told the Sydney Morning Herald, “She was my closest friend, a role model and confidant.
“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.”
Julie Taylor’s full statement:
Although words cannot describe the events of the last few days and the feelings that I have towards the survivors and victims of the Martin Place siege, there are a few things I would like to say.
Katrina Dawson was the most wonderful person I have ever met. She was my closest friend, a role model and confidant. 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.
I would like to pay tribute to Tori Johnson. 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. 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.
To the other hostages, thank you for the support and consideration that you gave me throughout our time together. I will always be grateful to you.
Thank you to the police, ambulance staff and health professionals at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, who helped us throughout 15 and 16 December and afterwards.
It is difficult to be positive at a time like this, but there are two things which provide comfort to me. The first is the overwhelming display of public support for everyone involved in this crisis, including me. My own visit to the Memorial at Martin Place gave me a strength for the coming weeks which I thought that I might not have, as have the messages and kindnesses that have been sent to me by everyone I know and many I don’t. It is good to know that none of us is alone.
Finally, my husband and I have been told that our unborn baby is healthy and unharmed by this crisis. 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. Although it is an emotional time, we are trying to keep ourselves healthy so that can occur.
I thank members of the media for their respect of our privacy in this difficult time, and ask that you continue to do so.
Ms Dawson, the daughter of a top QC, had three children aged under ten – two girls and a boy. The youngest child, a girl, is just four years old.
Ms Dawson attended Ascham and received a TER of 100. She also topped her bar exams, the Brisbane Times reports. Her husband, Paul Smith, is a partner at King & Wood Mallesons, the law firm where the couple first met.
Ms Dawson worked at Selborne chambers on Phillip Street in Sydney’s CBD with Julie Taylor, just a minutes’ walk from the Lindt cafe.
It is understood that Ms Dawson died as a result of cardiac arrest.
The baby’s full name is Emily Katrina Taylor.
Read more:
Inside the Sydney Siege: the survivors finally speak.
Was Sydney siege victim Katrina Dawson shot by a police bullet?
