Floral arrangements and tributes have been laid out to mark one year since six people were killed in the Westfield Bondi Junction stabbing attack.
Ashlee Good, Jade Young, Pikria Darchia, Dawn Singleton, Faraz Ahmed Tahir and Yixuan Cheng were stabbed to death by killer Joe Cauchi on April 13 last year.
Cauchi, 40, stabbed 16 people in less than three minutes before he was shot by NSW Police Inspector Amy Scott.
The fatal attack stopped the nation, with haunting images and footage emerging in the immediate aftermath.
A father was crowned a hero after he walked out of the centre shielding two children’s eyes with masks, arms wrapped around them, while hundreds of tributes were laid outside the shopping centre in the days following the tragedy.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, NSW Premier Chris Minns and hundreds of tearful mourners gathered at a sombre candlelight vigil to remember the victims in the week following the attack.
Images and displays collected from the tributes outside the centre, as well as the vigil, have been put on display at the Oxford St Mall at Bondi Junction, where they will remain until April 16 to reflect one year on.
Members of the community are expected to attend the Westfield Bondi Junction shopping centre on Sunday to pay tribute to the six victims one year on.
A large floral arrangement has also been placed on level 4 of the shopping centre near Zara. It will remain until April 16.
Black ribbons will be available for community members, while Lifeline representatives will also be onsite.
Mr Minns earlier said it was a time to “pause and reflect on the tragic events … and remember the strength of the community in the days following”.
“Our thoughts are with the victims’ families, those injured, first responders, members of public who carry the memory and the burden of that terrible day and whose lives were changed forever,” he said.
Families left ‘fractured’
The mother of Ms Young, Elizabeth Young, said she and her family’s lives had been “fractured” while delivering a heartbreaking speech at a wake for her daughter last year.
Describing Jade as “soft-hearted” and “hardworking”, Ms Young said she and her husband were “wrenched out of a quiet retirement” and “uprooted” into co-parenting “two beloved, vulnerable, traumatised girls”.
She also called for politicians at federal and state levels to address gaps in mental health care “to make it a safer world for our girls and all Australians”.
The husband of Ms Good, who died saving their baby, Harriet, also said “the day our family of three became a family of two will never make sense to me” while thanking people for donating to a GoFundMe following the attack.
He also shared his condolences to the families of the other five victims.
“Our lives will never be the same, and I wish every one of you your own strength and hope you’re getting the support required to navigate such incomprehensible and difficult times,” Mr Flanagan wrote.
‘Loving a monster’
Cauchi’s parents were devastated by the fatal attack, with his father, Andrew, telling reporters it was “so horrendous I can’t even explain it” in the weeks following.
He explained that his son had been diagnosed with schizophrenia when he was 17 but had been unmedicated prior to the attack.
“I made myself a servant to my son when I found out he had a mental illness. I became his servant because I loved that boy,” Andrew said.
“You don’t know how beautiful this boy was. I did everything in my power to help my son.
“I’m sorry, there’s nothing I can do or say to bring back the dead.
“I’m loving a monster. To you he’s a monster, but to me he was a very sick boy.”
A statement released by Queensland Police last year on behalf of Andrew and Cauchi’s mother, Michele, stated they were “absolutely devastated” by the “traumatic events”.
“Joel’s actions were truly horrific and we are still trying to comprehend what has happened. He has battled with mental health issues since he was a teenager,” the statement read.
“We are in contact with both the NSW Police Force and Queensland Police Service and have no issues with the police officer who shot our son, as she was only doing her job to protect others and we hope she is coping all right.”
Day of the attack
Originally from Toowoomba, Cauchi was sleeping rough in Maroubra, Sydney – likely under the Maroubra Beach pavilion – in the lead-up to the attack.
Peggy Dwyer SC, assisting NSW Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan in the upcoming coronial inquest, last year told a directions hearing that Cauchi had left Maroubra on the morning of April 13 to attend a Waterloo storage unit, arriving at 7.30am and staying for about an hour and a half.
CCTV footage captured him moving a large Ka-Bar hunting knife between bags. He left without the knife at 9.30am only to return hours later at 11.10am to grab a backpack, “tragically, with the knife hidden inside”.
He travelled between the city, Bondi Beach and Bondi Junction in the hours following before he walked in and out of the Westfield Bondi Junction about 3.12pm.
At 3.31pm he walked across the air bridge on level 4 and stood in line behind Ms Singleton.
“After fidgeting for a few minutes, Mr Cauchi removed the knife from his backpack, and as everybody knows, tragically, he stabbed and fatally injured Dawn, who was the first of his 16 victims,” Ms Dwyer told the court.
He then killed Jade Young and Ms Cheng before he stabbed Ms Good in the back. She died saving her nine-month old daughter, Harriet.
“When Ashlee was stabbed, she turned and then saw Mr Cauchi attacking her daughter’s pram. She ran at him and fought him off, receiving another stab wound as a result of that, this time in the chest, but undoubtedly saving the life of her daughter,” Ms Dwyer said.
Baby Harriet was taken to Sydney Children’s Hospital in a critical condition after she suffered stab wounds, though she was eventually able to return home.
Mr Tahir and Ms Darchia were then killed.
Inspector Scott was on her way to the Bondi Junction area when she heard of the incident over the NSW Police radio.
She single-handedly chased Cauchi through the shopping centre, followed by civilians brandishing chairs and other objects “ready to assist” the officer.
Cauchi stopped near the air bridge on level 5 near civilians who were trying to run and hide.
“After pausing for a few seconds when he stopped, Mr Cauchi then charged towards Inspector Scott with the knife held out in his right hand,” Ms Dwyer said.
Inspector Scott retreated and yelled at Cauchi to stop and drop his weapon. She shot Cauchi twice at 3.38pm after he failed to do so.
State of mind ‘looms large’ in inquest
A five-week coronial inquest is slated to kick off on April 28 and continue for five weeks until May 30.
Cauchi’s “state of mind” both before the fatal attack and on the day, including whether he may have targeted any particular individuals or groups, will be probed over the five weeks as well as whether and to what extent he had any motives or degree of planning.
Whether the force used by Inspector Scott was “justified, reasonable and appropriate” will also be examined, while potential recommendations made by the inquest could include sale restrictions on knives such as the one Cauchi used in the attack.
Police were last year given powers to stop and scan people for knives without a warrant in designated areas in the months following the attack, modelled after Jack’s Law in Queensland.
The treatment Cauchi received for his mental health, and whether this was “adequate and appropriate”, will also be explored.
Cauchi was diagnosed with schizophrenia when he was 17, with his mental health appearing to decline from February 2020.
He twice called the police on his parents in 2023 to claim they stole his knives after he’d returned to Toowoomba.
They were Ka-Bar USMC utility fixed blade knives, the same type of knife used in the Bondi attack.
Ms Dwyer on Monday told the final directions hearing before the inquest that the “issue of mental health – and the management or mismanagement of Mr Cauchi’s mental health – looms large in this inquest”.
Families’ ‘significant distress’
Images of Cauchi holding a knife and running through the centre were circulated in the days following the attack.
The general nature and content of the media response, including reporting and “activities to obtain information, images and/or footage in the immediate aftermath”, is set to be explored in the inquest as well as the impact of the media reporting on the families of those who died.
Ms Dwyer said the victims’ families had specifically requested the media response and the impact of this on the families be probed.
“A number of families have reported their significant distress at graphic footage being shown in the media,” Ms Dwyer told the court.
Shopping centre operator to be examined
Scentre Group, which operates a string of Westfield Shopping Centres across the country, is also set to come under the microscope during the inquest along with subcontractors Glad Group and Falkon Security.
Just weeks ago the group announced that security guards at 42 Westfields across Australia and New Zealand would be issued body-worn cameras, coined team safety cameras.
Additional protective equipment, including vests, were brought in for all Westfield security officers last year.
