Westfield Bondi Junction stabbing attack LIVE blog (2024)

Eight injured people remain in hospital, with two in a critical condition.

But health minister Ryan Park was pleased to announce that the nine-month-old baby girl's condition has now been downgraded from critical to serious.

The baby's mother Ashlee Good was killed in the attack. Her partner remains by his little girl's bedside at Sydney Children's Hospital in Randwick.

'That is a big change and a significant improvement, and what we hope to do is to be able to get that baby on the ward over the coming days, said Mr Park.

'That would be a great outcome.

'Her dad, and her family, are receiving significant support, as you could imagine, but in the darkest of times comes sometimes the brightest of lights.

'I think that is something that our whole country was holding its breath and hoping that she started to improve and, certainly, over the last 12 hours or so we've seen that improvement.'

Four other victims have since been discharged from hospital.

Police say it's obvious from footage that Joel Cauchi targeted women in Saturday's horrific shopping centre attack.Five women died, plus one male security guard, and the nation wants to know what drove Cauchi's horrific attack at Bondi Junction Westfield on Saturday.

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said it was obvious to her and detectives that Cauchi had focused on women and avoided men during the attack.

'The videos speak for themselves, don't they?' Ms Webb told ABC News Breakfast.

'That's certainly a line of inquiry for us.

'It's obvious to me, it's obvious to detectives that it seems to be an area of interest that the offender had focused on women and avoided the men.'

A young woman says she was shocked to see the 'true gentleman' she once dated was the deranged mass killer behind the Westfield Bondi Junction stabbing attack.

The Gold Coast woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, has told Daily Mail Australia about her brief relationship with crazed knifeman, Joel Cauchi, 40.

She she barely recognised the savage killer - who stabbed the infant in her pram - from the man she met on the Badoodating app in April 2020.

'I struck up a conversation with him for a while then I had a few drinks with him at his house in Brisbane. He lived there with flatmates,' the woman recalled.

'He was a lovely guy when I met him, definitely quiet and reserved. I'm just very shocked at what has happened.'

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The owner-operator of Westfield says it's working towards reopening the shopping centre 'later this week'.

The site was handed back to Scentre Group by NSW Police on Monday morning.

'As you can imagine, reopening is one which is a challenging,' Scentre Group chief executive Elliott Rusanow told reporters on Monday afternoon.

'Westfield Bondi plays a very important role for many, many members of the community.

'But we have to recognise that this has been the scene of very tragic incident, and we have to respect the loss of life of the victims, the victims’ families and the process of re-opening will take into consideration how we do that in a way which respects what has occurred.'

Mr Rusanow added that measures will be taken to ensure the reopening considers the victims and families of the victims and staff.

Families of the six people killed in the stabbing rampage on Saturday are invited to visit the site if they wished.

Michele and Andrew Cauchi opened about their 'troubled...beautiful boy' Joel Cauchi, 40, who they said they 'loved so much' until he went on his murderous rampage.

Knife-obsessed Cauchi killed five women and one man at Westfield Bondi Junction on Saturday when he ran through the shopping centre hacking and stabbing at shoppers.

On Monday, his parents said he was a diagnosed schizophrenic whohad lived at home with them until he was 35 in Toowoomba, southern Queensland.

His life went off the rails when he tried to get off his anti-psychotic medication because 'he wanted to have a life' - but instead triggered his psychosis, said his parents.

'How do you love a monster? Give birth to them!' tearful dad Andrew Cauchi told the media pack outside his home.

Former prime minister and federal member for Wentworth Malcolm Turnbull visited the scene of the tragedy at Westfield Bondi Junction on Monday.

He paid his respects to the six victims killed and signed the condolence book.

'This a place of love, of fun, peace and it was shattered by this incomprehensible act of cruelty and violence,' Mr Turnbull said.

He added that the “most terrible things” bring out the best in Australians.

'The courage of the young mother, the courage of the professionalism of the police inspector, the security guards, passers-by.It’ll take us a while to process this as a community,' Mr Turnbull said.

The busy shopping centre remained closed for a second day on Monday despite it no longer being a police crime scene.

There is no word yet on when the centre will be reopened.

'The property has been handed back to Westfield Bondi Junction, but understandably there is broken glass,' Premier Chris Minns said.

'There is security measures that they need to go through before it can be opened to the public.

'They (Westfield) would be best placed to give an estimated time of opening, but hopefully it is soon.

'Obviously, those shopkeepers did an amazing job over the weekend and to the extent they want to get back to trading.

'They will never get back to normal. It has been a traumatic, horrible event that some kind of normalcy after the weekend would be important.'

Premier Minns announced Sydney Opera House will be lit up with a black ribbon on Monday night to honour the six innocent lives lost in Westfield Bondi Junction stabbing.

He also announced NSW Government will provide $18m to the NSW Coroner's office to establish an independent coronial inquiry into the tragedy.

'I expect that inquiry will look at not just the NSW police response and the criminal investigation surrounding the events in Bondi Junction on Saturday afternoon, but also this offender's interactions with the NSW government, in NSW Health and government agencies, as well as with help from the Queensland government any interactions that this man had in that state,' Mr Minns said.

'Concurrently an assistant deputy state coroner will be appointed for all forensic investigations that take place during the period of that public inquiry.'

The government will also launch discussions with Waverley Council with plans to establish a permanent memorial at the shopping centre.

A friend of Faraz Tahir, the security guard who was killed, has described him as a 'great guy' who was full of ambition and who put others ahead of himself.

Mr Tahir was the sole male to be killed in the horrific stabbing attack.

Speaking with Sunrise, Adnan Qadir said it was hard to fathom his friend, who was on his first shift at the shopping centre, was gone.

'My initial interactions with him was through volunteer causes, being president of the association, we worked together on quite a few activities up there, be it Australia Clean Up Day, activities around the community, helping the elderly,' he said.

'He was so big in terms of giving everything he had to the wider community and you could see some of these selfless acts during this tragedy as well.'

Mr Tahir moved to Australia last year, fleeing persecution in his home country of Pakistan.

Mr Qadir added that his friend was 'really excited' about his future.'He was looking forward to a stable career, to make a family up here. It is just sad how it all ended up,' he said.

The father of the deranged knifeman who stabbed six people to death and injured at least 12 more with a 30cm hunting knife has lashed out in a bitter doorstep spray.

Westfield Bondi Junction knifeman Joel Cauchi's father, Andrew, unloaded in a furious outburst outside the family home in Toowoomba, south-east Queensland, on Monday morning.

He blasted media for their lack of compassion before tending to the flock of hundreds of pigeons he cares for in the backyard of the home he shares with wife, Michele.

'How do you think I feel? How's your sensitivity,' he said.

'I felt alright until you got here.'

2GB radio host Ray Hadley made a surprise call to action during Monday's program.

'Chris [Minns], you don't need a brand new inquiry. You need to make sure the security guards can keep people safe in some way,' he told listeners on his morning show.

'You must act immediately on unarmed security guards in these areas like shopping centres and hospitals. We don't need an inquiry.'

Hadley also recalled the desperate phone call from his friend, millionaire John Singleton, the father of victim Dawn Singleton on Saturday night in the hours after the fatal stabbing, asking if he could confirm reports she had been killed.

Hadley then called NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb and called Mr Singleton back to confirm his worst fears.

'I asked her if she had any names, and she said only one, and confirmed it was Dawn, a beautiful 25 year old girl who I've known since she was born,' an emotional Hadley recalled.

'And I had the job of ringing John back and officially confirming that his darling daughter had been stabbed to death by this lunatic.'

He then shared details the heartbreaking call.

'I said, 'I don’t want to tell you what I know, but I’ve got to tell you,' Hadley said.

"And he was stoic and then gathered his family.

'Obviously John is inconsolable as is Julie [his former wife].'

Dawn, 25, was engaged to be married to a serving police officer who was among those who rushed to the scene when the incident unfolded.

She had purchased her wedding dress last week and was shopping at Westfield for her wedding make-up when she was stabbed.

Radio star Kyle Sandilands has revealed his wife Tegan's aunty was one of 18 people who were stabbed on Saturday.

Yvonne was one of the first people to get stabbed, suffering an injury to her shoulder before she was saved by Bondi Beach lifeguard Andrew Reid.

'We were watching everything on TV, then we found out that one of our own family was involved and carted off to hospital," Sandilands told Today on Monday.

He said Yvonne was discharged from hospital and is recovering from her injuries at home.

A heroic shopper has described the harrowing moment he made eye contact with the Bondi murderer before he continued on his stabbing spree.

Six people - including five women and a male security guard - were killed by Joel Cauchi, 40, during a stabbing rampage at Bondi Junction Westfield in Sydney's east on Saturday.

The victims include mother Ashlee Good, 38, Dawn Singleton, 25, the daughter of millionaire businessman John Singleton, mother-of-two Jade Young, 47, Pikria Darchia, 55, and security guard Faraz Tahir, 30.

The sixth victim, Chinese national Yixuan Cheng, 27, was named on Monday morning. NSW Police declined to comment on her identity and the Chinese Embassy has been contacted.

Another 12 people were stabbed during the attack, with five people remaining in intensive care and three others in a stable condition as of Monday morning.

Brave shopper Ryan Bramble ran towards screams as the attack unfolded.

Mr Bramble had been shopping with a friend in Zara when they heard the blood curdling screams of women as Cauchi began his attack.

'I just heard women screaming and keep screaming,' he told 2GB on Monday.

'We looked at the front and just saw hundreds of people running.'

He said he was just a few metres away from Cauchi and made eye contact but noticed he did the killer did not seem interested in him.

'This bloke walks around the corner, just really casually ... and I notice a massive Rambo knife in his hand,' Mr Bramble recalled.

'I look him in the eyes. He looked at me, we were only a few metres apart, but he looked at me and just kept going. Just a really deranged look on his face.'

Police have provided an update on the nine-month-old baby who was stabbed in the Bondi Junction knife attack after her mum died protecting her.

Her mother, Ashlee Good, 38, was among six innocent shoppers who were killed in the horrific random attack in Sydney's Westfield Bondi Junction on Saturday.

The baby was rushed to hospital in a critical condition on Saturday night.

On Monday morning, the police reported that the baby is in stable condition at the Sydney Children's Hospital in Randwick, and there has been no further deterioration in her condition.

The dying mother threw her injured baby into the arms of two strangers and selflessly begged them to help the infant.

The hero who took the baby was identified on Nine News shortly after the tragedy.'The baby got stabbed and, yeah, the mum got stabbed,' he said.

'The mum came over with the baby and threw it at me.

The man said he used clothes from a store to try to stem the baby's bleeding.

'I just helped by holding the baby... and trying to compress the baby.'

The two brothers stayed with Ms Good as they waited for emergency services.

Anthony Albanese was asked on ABC Radio National on Monday morning whether he believed gender was a motivation for Westfield Bondi Junction killer Joel Cauchi.

'NSW Police have said they’re looking at that as part of the investigation,' he told RN Breakfast host Patricia Karvelas.

'The gender breakdown is, of course, concerning.

Karvelas pushed him on concerns that the offender could have engaged with misogynist networks, and whether that needed to be examined.

'All of that investigation will take place; it will be comprehensive, and nothing will not be looked at in this matter,” Albanese said.

Mr Albanese also praised NSW Police officers and heroic bystanders who responded to the unfolding incident on Saturday.

A review into the security response will be launched.

'There will be a time of course for us to have a considered response to any security lessons that need to be learnt from an incident such as this,' Mr Albanese said.

The busy shopping centre will remain shut on Monday.

Photos from the scene show the centre cordoned off with police tape and surrounded by a growing shrine of tributes.

Locals were also at the scene to show their respects.

An emotional Brooke Boney has broken down in tears while reading the news about the Westfield Bondi Junction massacre on Channel Nine's Today Show.

Five women and one man were killed while 12 others - including a baby - were seriously wounded before Queensland man Joel Cauchi, 40, was shot dead by police during the terrifying rampage at Westfield Bondi Junction on Saturday afternoon.

A number of the survivors were discharged from hospital overnight while others remained under monitoring.

Boney struggled to maintain her composure after reading the news about the incident on Monday.

Hosts Karl Stefanovic and Sarah Abo took over reading the bulletin as an emotional Boney teared up.

Stefanovic then addressed Boney's absence.

'Sorry folks, this story is just so heavy and we are not the story,' Stefanovic told viewers.'Nor would we ever want to be.'But dealing with this story and its magnitude and how awful it is for mothers and babies - it's a lot. So apologies for some of us, you know, getting upset at times.'It's in some of our communities,' he said.

NSW Police Inspector Amy Scott has opened up on the moment she confronted 40-year-old knifeman Joel Cauchi.

Police Inspector Scott gunned down Cauchi, bringing an end to his rampage that killed six innocent people at Bondi Junction Westfield's shopping centre on Saturday afternoon.

Inspector Scott entered the Westfield by herself, sprinting through the top level of the complex before coming face-to-face with Cauchi, who was brandishing a 30cm knife.

Witnesses said Inspector Scott yelled at Cauchi 'put it down' before he lunged at her, and she fired, shooting him in the chest.

Police Association of NSW boss Kevin Morton said on Monday that Inspector Scott was 'content' with her actions and did not consider herself to be a hero.

'Amy is content with what she had to do,' Mr Morton said.

Dawn Singleton, 25 - who is the daughter of multi-millionaire advertising guru John Singleton - was due to marry her high school sweetheart, NSWPolice Officer Ashley Wildey, in coming months.

Ms Singleton's life was tragically cut short, along with five other shoppers, when she was stabbed at Bondi Junction Westfield by Joel Cauchi, 40, on Saturday afternoon, while shopping for her wedding.

Mr Wildey, who was reportedly on call,scrambled to the shopping centre to assist police colleagues with the unfolding situation.

A Chinese national has been identified as the sixth fatality in the Bondi Junction stabbing attack.

Yixuan Cheng, 27, an economics student at the University of Sydney, was fatally killed after Joel Cauchi, 40, fatally stabbed six people and injured at least 12 more in a violent rampage at the busy shopping centre on Saturday afternoon.

Cheng's parents told Chinese media their daughter was still on the phone with her fiance, who is based in China, a few minutes before the tragedy.

Before the attack, she was on the fourth floor of the mall, shopping and sending her boyfriend photos of herself trying on clothes.

After ending the call to his girlfriend, her boyfriend saw the news about the stabbing attack in Sydney.

He immediately called her again, but she didn't answer. He had been planning to marry Cheng after she graduated this year.