– The gunman behind the Sydney cafe siege was facing up to 50 sexual offence charges, according to court documents

– The documents allege that Man Haron Monis painted the breasts of women and raped them in his ‘spiritual healing’ sessions

– The sessions are alleged to have taken place over 13 years at locations around Sydney

– Documents also allege that he threatened to shoot the mother of his two sons around two years before her brutal murder

– Monis was on bail and due to face court in February

– His mental state had previously been discussed by Australian and Iranian officials

Court documents show that the dead gunman behind the siege of a Sydney cafe was facing up to 50 sexual offence charges, including aggravated sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault and inciting a teenage girl to commit an indecent act.

Man Haron Monis painted the breasts and bodies of women with water, massaged their breasts and rubbed his genitals against them and raped them in ‘spiritual healing’ sessions all over Sydney going back 13 years, the documents allege.

The 50-year-old committed the sexual offences against women at his Spiritual Consultation business in the Sydney suburbs of Burwood, Liverpool, Westmead and Belmore between September 2001 and September this year, according to the documents.

Monis, whose name is recorded in the documents as Mohammad Hassas Manteghi, was due to face court on February 27 next year.

Further documents allege that he threatened to shoot the mother of his two sons at Minchinbrook McDonalds in western Sydney almost two years before Noleen Hayson Pal was murdered.

According to an interview conducted at St Marys Police Station on July 27, 2011, Monis threatened Ms Pal after they split up and had demanded full custody of their children, then aged seven and three-and-a-half.

Ms Pal, who told police she was afraid of Monis, had met him at the McDonald’s a week earlier to discuss custody of their children.

Police say Monis told her, ‘If I can’t see the kids more than I am now, you’re going to pay, even if I have to shoot you’.

Monis also told constables Mina Matta and Matthew Gillett that he was a former ‘security officer in Australia’ and that he had previously held a firearm licence and and gone target shooting.

Monis former lawyer Manny Conditsis, told the Daily Mail Australia: ‘I thought before anyone contacted me that it might have been him only because of his extreme ideologue views and knowing he had been out on bail out for a long time and facing a long prison sentence.

‘Putting all of that together it occurred to me that he might have been it might have been the straw that tipped the camel’s back – the combination of all those things together. With a nothing to lose attitude.’

His mental state appeared to be fragile enough to have been discussed by Australian and Iranian officials, with talks taking place several times before the siege in Sydney according to Iran’s foreign ministry.

Meanwhile, Iran’s Fars news agency reported that Australia had denied an attempt to extradite Monis to Iran, where he had been indicted for fraud.

Australian security agencies didn’t appear to be watching him closely at the time of the siege, with Prime Minister Tony Abbott saying after the tragedy that Monis wasn’t believed to be on the national security watchlist.

Ms Pal, who became Monis’s de facto wife around nine years before she was murdered, died in a brutal killing on the afternoon of Sunday, April 21 when she was set upon, stabbed 18 times, doused with accelerant and then set alight.

It was not until seven months later, in October 2013, that police arrested and charged Monis’ s girlfriend, Amirah Droudis with murder and charged Monis with accessory to murder before and after the fact.

Police opposed bail, and he was taken into custody where he complained that he was ‘tortured’ and had ‘excrement’ thrown on him.

Last December he was released on bail by Magistrate William Pierce, who made the decision after he had been held in custody for up to six weeks on charges of being an accessory before and after the fact of his ex-wife’s murder.

In April this year he was charged with sexual assault and granted bail.

A $1000 surety was paid by an elderly relative of Ms Droudis, believed to be her mother.

A further 40 sexual assault charges were laid against Monis on October 10, but he was still allowed out on bail.

Monis’ bail conditions included not going within 500 metres of an airport, not approaching witnesses or victims, reporting every day to Campsie Police Station and surrendering his passport.

In 2011, charges against Monis of stalking or intimidating his wife Ms Pal were dropped.

He told police he was just ‘a protective father’ and wanted full custody of his sons because he feared they were being maltreated.

Asked about the threat to shoot Ms Pal he said ‘I didn’t threaten her’

However, Monis was a domineering partner who forced Ms Pal to wear a hijab, restricted her contact with anyone outside her immediate family and beat her, according to The Daily Telegraph.

Monis took around 17 people hostage in a Sydney cafe on Monday, resulting in a prolonged stand-off with police and the tragic death of cafe manager Tori Johnson and barrister Katrina Dawson.
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