Ex-Wife of Sydney Terrorist Tried to Flee to Bay Area

The former wife of Sydney hostage taker Mon Haron Monis took refuge in the Bay Area before she was murdered. Noleen Pal was stabbed multiple times and set on fire six months after she left Hayward, CA and returned to Australia. Monis had been charged as an accessory in the murder, but was not jailed for very long.

Ayyut Khalik, her Godfather, said that Pal had family in the Bay area and moved there to escape Monis’s abuse. He told KPIX 5 that Monis was a “scam artist” and a “liar.” Monis died on Monday morning in a shootout with Sydney police after taking more than a dozen people hostage. “He was abusing her, having her wear the hijab, and did not want her to talk with anybody,” Khalik said.

Despite the abusive behavior toward his godchild, Khalik said “I never thought he would do something like that, no,” he said.

Yet, Khalik was aware that Monis was an extremist. He knew that Monis had written hateful letters to the families of Australian war veterans killed in Iraq. In those writings Monis expressed pleasure in their deaths.

Khalik said that his heart is broken for his goddaughter, her children, and for those affected in Sydney. “I mean, those people were innocent. My goddaughter was innocent. Her kids were innocent,” he grieved.