His history with authorities dated back years, having once been prosecuted for sending offensive letters to families of Australian troops killed in Afghanistan.
The court also heard that two members of the public had previously received "offensive" letters from Augustus who was subsequently given a restraining order.
Monis, a self-styled Muslim cleric, rose to notoriety in Australia after he was convicted of writing offensive letters to the families of soldiers killed in action.
Hours before he withdrew the money Monis had lost a high court bid to overturn his conviction for sending offensive letters to the families of deceased servicemen.
Monis, an Iranian-born extremist, had attracted attention in recent years by writing offensive letters to the families of Australian soldiers killed in Afghanistan and was sentenced to 300 hours of community service.
He had also been convicted of sending offensive letters to the families of Australian soldiers who had died in Afghanistan; a few days before the siege Australia's High Court had refused his bid to appeal against the conviction.
"Representatives of Muslim and Arab organisations also reported that members of their communities experienced racial and religious vilification with regular frequency, not only in verbal form, but also through offensive letters and pamphlets," the report said.
The self-proclaimed spiritual healer had achieved a degree of notoriety as the author of "grossly offensive" letters sent to taunt parents and relatives of Australians killed by extremism in Indonesia as well as troops who lost their lives in Afghanistan between 2007 and 2009.
The Iranian-born 49-year-old, who apparently converted from Shia Islam to Sunni only last week, was infamously involved in sending "grossly offensive" letters to parents and relatives of Australian victims of terrorism and troops killed in Afghanistan between 2007 and 2009.
