On Saturday April 13, 2023, Joel Cauchi (40) carried out a mass stabbing at the Westfield in Bondi Junction in Sydney. He would end up stabbing 18 people and of those, six were fatally injured.
We will run through a timeline of events, give you some information on the perpetrator’s background and will tell the victims’ stories.
As some information about where this happened, Bondi Junction Westfield is a large shopping mall in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. There are 331 stores in the mall – ranging from supermarkets to high end designer. The mall spans 7 floors.
Timeline –
At around 10am on Saturday April 13, Joel Cauchi entered a restaurant called Saigon Noodle. He ordered a chicken curry but was unable to pay for it. The workers at the restaurant said he seemed agitated. He left the restaurant as he could not pay.
He returned to the same restaurant at 12.30pm and ordered the same meal. This time he was able to pay for it.
He ate the food and at around 1pm ,he was seen walking through Bondi Junction.
Police are still investigating Joel’s moves between 1-3pm.
By 3.20pm, Joel started stabbing people with a knife.
It is thought that Joel entered the centre on level 3. He went on a travelator/escalator and a man holding a bollard saw the knife and attempted to stop him.
He got past the man with the bollard and went up to level four. On that level is where the first fatalities occurred.
Dawn Singleton (25) was fatally stabbed on that level. She had been buying makeup in Chanel.
Ashlee Good (38) and her baby Harriet were also stabbed on this level. Ashlee managed to pass the baby to people standing nearby before she collapsed.
I haven’t been able to find too much other info about the order in which people were stabbed. The other victims who were stabbed fatally were Yixuan Cheng, Pikria Darchia (55), security guard Faraz Tahir (30), and Jade Young. We will tell you the victims stories a bit further on in this blog.
Stores started locking down with customers inside and people started calling police.
Police Inspector Amy Scott was nearby. People alerted her as to what was going on and she rushed into the centre to help.
There is footage of Police Inspector Scott running through the centre and members of the public rush to help her, grabbing chairs and anything else they could use.
I have chatted with some friends who work in the police department and they have indicated that PI Scott was likely not on full duty at the time of the incident as she was alone. It sounds like some members of the public came across her maybe on her break or while she was running errands and she ran to help.
By this point, Joel was at level 5 in the centre. She walked behind him quickly in an attempt to catch up with him. He turned to face her. She gave him clear commands to drop the knife. He didn’t and raised the knife and lunged at her. She shot him dead. I have heard three gunshots in the footage.
PI Scott then dropped to the floor as per police protocol and started to give Joel CPR. He died at the scene.
Police arrived on scene and were urging people to avoid the area. Shoppers were asked to leave the area, leaving vehicles and belongings behind.
By 6.20pm, police held a press conference and announced that five people had died and at least seven were in hospital. One hour later, authorities confirmed a sixth person had passed away.
It was announced that the killer was Joel Cauchi the following day, Sunday April 14. Some media outlets had erroneously reported that the killer was a Benjamin Cohen on the day of the stabbings.
During a live cross from Bondi Junction to the studio, the Sunrise co-host Matt Shirvington said the killer was “40-year-old Benjamin Cohen, dressed in a Kangaroos ARL jersey”.
Another reporter repeated the claim a few minutes later.
“The attacker, 40-year-old Benjamin Cohen, is known to police, his motives are not yet known, he was working on his own,” another reporter said. On YouTube a caption referred to Cohen as the attacker.
I am not even sure how they got that name? The real Benjamin Cohen is now taking legal proceedings against the networks involved.
“It’s extremely disappointing to see thousands of people mindlessly propagating misinformation without even the slightest thought put to factchecking or real life consequences,” he said in a statement to Guardian Australia.
“But what’s even more disappointing to me is a major news network doing this, using my name without waiting for a statement from police to verify this or going out to try to verify it themselves.”
Once Joel Cauchi was identified, people started digging into his online life. He did have a Facebook page which has been taken down but there wasn’t much on it.
Joel was originally from Queensland, but had moved to New South Wales not too long before the massacre. Five weeks before the murders, he sent his mum a video message.
“Mum, I just want to show you how beautiful Coogee Beach [is].”
Joel’s parents are both in their 70s and had been trying to get in touch with their son. He wasn’t answering their calls for weeks before the incident and his mother even reached out to his bank. “I don’t want to know what’s in his account. I just want to know my son’s still alive. Is he still using his account?” Mrs Cauchi had asked.
So when they got the video message, they were relieved and knew he was okay for now.
The next time they saw Joel was when he was on television reports covering the stabbing.
“I walked in and my wife said, ‘It looks like Joel’. I said, ‘It does a bit’, but he had his head down,” Mr Cauchi said.
“So I watched and watched and watched.”
The couple realized it was their son and called police.
They told the media that Joel had been diagnosed with schizophrenia at the age of 17. His mother said he had been under the care of doctors for 18 years. They also said he excelled at school and in 2012 graduated from the University of Southern Queensland with a Bachelor of Arts in international relations and culture and language.
Mrs Cauchi said her son’s doctor took him off his medication over a number of years, carefully warning him of what might happen.
“When he came off [the medication], it was like it had all lifted from him and he wanted to have a life,” she said.
“After living at home until he was 35, he went to Brisbane, so he wasn’t with his doctor anymore.”
His father said it was a six-month trial with an option to recommence medication if needed.
“He didn’t want anyone knowing he has got a mental illness,” Mr Cauchi said.
“He was embarrassed when I said anything about it and he bolted off to Brisbane and he got a life.”
Over the years following, Joel moved around a lot and became homeless at one point. His father went and got him from Brisbane and took him home to Toowoomba.
Joel’s father had found six US Army combat knives in his son’s property.
. “I said to Joel, ‘You can stay here as long as you like but you are not going to have these in my house,’ and so I took them off him, knowing that there was going to be pandemonium in my house but I was willing to put up with it,” Mr Cauchi said.
His son called police, complaining that his father had stolen his knives.
The next day, Joel drove down to Tweed Heads and bought himself another knife.
Joel ended up leaving the family home again and moving to Sydney. He rented a small storage unit that police have been investigating. He advertised his services on escort sites.
On April 8, just five days before his stabbing attacks, he posted that he was surfing Bondi if anyone wanted to meet for a surf.
“My heart goes out to the people my son has hurt,” his mother said.
“If he was in his right mind, he would be absolutely devastated by what he has done.
“But he obviously was not in his right mind and he has been somehow triggered into a psychosis and he lost touch with reality.
“Anyone who has got a relative with mental illness will understand medication doesn’t make you feel very well.
“There’s a condition with a mental illness called anosognosia where the brain is damaged and it doesn’t tell you you’re sick. So if you don’t know you’re sick, why would you take medication?”
In terms of the victims:
Yixuan Cheng was a Chinese national who had been studying at the University of Sydney.
“Like you, I am shocked and saddened by the senseless violence and loss of life that occurred at Bondi Junction on the weekend,” vice-chancellor and president Mark Scott said in a statement.
“On behalf of the University, I extend my sincere condolences to the student’s family and friends.
“We are working closely with the Chinese consulate and the student’s family to assist in any way we can.”
Yixuan was one of the last of the victims to be identified and I believe this is because she had no family in Australia.
Pikria Darchia (55) was another victim. Her family have asked for privacy so not much is known about Pikria. We do know that she was an artist and It is believed she has two sons and was originally from Georgia in Eastern Europe.
Faraz Tahir (30) was a security guard who was working at the Westfield when he was fatally stabbed. It was his first day on the job. He was stabbed while trying to stop Joel.
Faraz moved to Australia a year ago after fleeing persecution in his home country of Pakistan.
“We are devastated by Faraz’s passing and recognise our team member’s bravery and role as a first responder,” centre owners Scentre Group Chief Executive Officer, Elliott Rusanow said in a statement.
Ashlee Good (38) and her baby Harriet were stabbed. Harriet was rushed to hospital where she underwent surgery and was in ICU for days. Thankfully, just before recording this episode, Harriet was released from hospital.
I have seen some reports that say Ashlee was lining up to buy coffee when she was stabbed. Apparently Joel stabbed many of his victims from behind, so they had no idea what was happening. I believe Harriet was stabbed in the abdomen. Before collapsing, Ashlee passed the baby to people standing nearby. They used clothing from nearby stores to attempt to compress the baby’s wounds.
Ashlee was taken to a different hospital from Harriet. Her husband Dan had to make the decision as to which of his family to go to. He went to Ashlee first and I have read that he was able to see her before she passed. He then obviously rushed to Harriet.
“Today we are reeling from the terrible loss of Ashlee, a beautiful mother, daughter, sister, partner, friend, all round outstanding human and so much more,” Ashlee’s family said.
“We appreciate the well-wishes and thoughts of members of the Australian public who have expressed an outpouring of love for Ashlee and our baby girl.”
Dawn Singleton (25) was the final victim. Dawn was the daughter of Australian businessman John Singleton. His net worth is estimated to be over $800m. This just goes to show that anyone can be a victim, at any time.
A University of Technology Sydney graduate, Dawn worked as an e-commerce assistant at White Fox Boutique.
‘Dawn was a sweet, kind-hearted person who had her whole life ahead of her,’ the company wrote on Instagram.
‘She was really amazing. We are all truly devastated by this loss.
Dawn was engaged to be married in the next few months, to police officer Ashley Wildey. I have read that he was actually called to the scene until they realized that Dawn was one of the victims.
The final victim, Jade Young (47) was an architect and mother-of-two. Jade worked as an architect for more than two decades and is a member of the Bronte Surf Life Saving Club.
Jade’s workplace Georgina Wilson Associates (GWA), paid tribute to their “beautiful” colleague.
“I can’t believe I am writing this, it doesn’t feel real,” the Double Bay-based architecture studio posted on Instagram.
“Jade was a part of our GWA team for over 12 years – she was family.
“Anyone who knew Jade knew what a beautiful, kind and warm soul she was.
“We are completely devastated. All our love goes out to her family. We love you Jade.”
SOURCE LIST
https://www.9news.com.au/national/bondi-stabbing-spree-victims-named-after-attack-left-six-dead/bd13dbff-8082-44c5-b7b8-7a55819b1d02
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13317093/Westfield-Bondi-Junction-stabbing-Joel-Cauchi.html
https://www.9news.com.au/national/how-the-bondi-junction-westfield-stabbing-attack-unfolded/1755fd51-e268-473f-a183-11745ee73f64
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-17/joel-cauchis-path-stabbing-attack-bondi-junction-shopping-centre/103728968