The fatal attack on beloved Melbourne identity and cafe owner Sisto Malaspina in Bourke Street almost three years ago was a premeditated act of terrorism, a coroner has ruled.
Victorian State Coroner John Cain has handed down his findings into the horrifying 19-second attack by Hassan Khalif Shire Ali in November 2018, finding it was motivated by his adherence to Islamic extremism and ISIS.
He found opportunities to prevent the attack may have been missed, but he was unable to conclude that Shire Ali s trajectory toward it would have been averted if intelligence gaps had been filled, if a different threat assessment had been made or if Shire Ali had not been bailed weeks earlier.