The Westfield Bondi Junction killer used a US military knife to stab 16 people in less than three minutes – and launched into his bloody attack as he lined up behind first victim Dawn Singleton at a bakery in the Sydney shopping centre.
An inquest will formally begin on April 28 to investigate the death of six people killed by knifeman Joel Cauchi’s stabbing rampage before he was shot dead by police on April 13 last year.
A second directions hearing on Monday was told that graphic footage of the Bondi attacks will not be played at the inquest.
Senior Counsel Assisting, Dr Peggy Dwyer SC, stressed: ‘No sensitive CCTV will be played in open court.’
Cauchi’s weapon was a Ka-Bar US Marine Corps utility fixed blade knife, a style of knife the 40-year-old Queensland man ‘collected’, Dr Dwyer said.
At the time of the attacks, he was living rough under the Maroubra Beach Pavilion and had not taken his psychotropic medicine for his schizophrenia condition for more than four years.
The inquest will explore the deaths of five shoppers, Dawn Singleton, 25, Jade Young, 47, Yixuan Cheng, 27, Ashlee Good, 38, Pakria Darchia, 55, security guard, Faraz Tahir, 30, and the killer, Joel Cauchi.
The families of Ms Singleton, Ms Young and Ms Good – excluding Dawn’s father, millionaire advertising executive John Singleton – have engaged prominent barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC to represent them at the hearings.
Joel Cauchi attacked 16 people in a matter of minutes, killing six, before being shot dead by a police officer
Cauchi used a Ka-Bar US Marine Corps knife (above, stock picture) which he ‘collected’. The inquest will examine if there should be restrictions on weapons including the Ka-Bar knife
At Monday’s hearing, Ms Chrystanthou slammed the previous night’s 60 Minutes program which featured John Singleton asking that the inquest be shelved because it was too traumatic.
‘I’m worried about the family or loved ones of those people who were killed, and I don’t see why their privacy should be upset by an inquiry,’ he told the Nine show.
Ms Chrysanthou described the program as displaying ‘highly inaccurate reporting’.
She said that the families ‘except for John Singleton … understand the mandatory nature of this inquest and they support it.
‘Their lives have been changed in a way that none of us can really comprehend. Children’s lives have been altered,’ she added.
‘It is important for them to understand if anything else could have been done.
‘The families were very adversely impacted by some members of the media in hours and days after the tragedy occurred.
‘They continue to be impacted by a broadcast last night by a media company and ask that those reporting on the inquest take extreme care to address sensitivities of all families.’
Dawn Singleton, 25, was the first attacked, as she waited at the Sourdough Bakery and Cauchi lined up behind her
Ashlee Good was stabbed, turned and saw Cauchi attacking her daughter’s pram. She ran at him and fought him off, receiving a fatal wound
At the earlier directions hearing last November, Dr Dwyer said the incident ‘shocked our community and has caused unspeakable grief for the families and loved ones of those who were killed and injured’.
On April 13, 2024, ‘at around 3.30pm, 40-year-old Joel Cauchi began to attack unsuspecting shoppers with a large hunting knife that had been secreted in his backpack,’ she said.
‘In less than three minutes, he stabbed 16 people, killing six and injuring ten others.
‘Around five and a half minutes after those attacks began Mr Cauchi was shot dead by an experienced police officer, Inspector Amy Scott.’
Officer Scott had ‘responded to the request for police assistance and entered Westfield alone to confront the attacker’.
‘The parents of Mr Cauchi have spoken publicly and express their shock and sadness at the actions of their son, a man who had struggled with mental illness since he was a teenager and had no criminal history,’ Dr Dwyer said.
On the day of the stabbings, Cauchi left the Maroubra area at 6.26am and went to a Kennards storage unit at Waterloo where he’d rented a locker.
Dr Dwyer said that after changing clothes and charging his phone, CCTV footage at Kennards captured him taking ‘a large hunting knife, the Ka-Bar knife’ out of a sheath and moving it between bags.
Around five and a half minutes after his attacks began, Joel Cauchi was shot dead by police officer Inspector Amy Scott (above with Cauchi)
At 11.10am he retrieved a backpack from the storage unit with the Ka-Bar knife hidden inside. Over the next four hours, he moved between the city, Bondi Beach, and Bondi Junction by public transport.
‘At 3.12pm, Mr Cauchi entered Westfield Bondi Junction via Bronte Road, and he walked in and out of the shopping centre, as well as several shops, with no apparent aim that can be discerned from watching the CCTV footage.
‘At 3.31pm, Mr Cauchi walked over the air bridge on level 4 towards the Sourdough Bakery, and he stood in line behind Ms Dawn 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.
‘From 3.32pm and lasting 57 seconds, Mr Cauchi proceeded to stab or attempt to stab any person he came close to.
‘The second person he attacked was Jade Young near the Sourdough Bakery at 3:33:01.
‘The third was Yixuan Cheng, who was stabbed between Cotton On and the Peter Alexander store at 3:33:18.
‘At 3.34, after exiting Myer and running back towards the Sourdough Bakery, and outside AJE Athletica, Mr Cauchi attacked Ashlee Good in the back from behind.
Jade Young, 47, became a victim of the Bondi attacks when she was waiting outside the Sourdough Bakery at Westfield on Saturday, April 13 last year
Yixuan Cheng, 27, was between the Cotton On and Peter Alexander stores when she was fatally attacked by Joel Cauchi
‘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.
‘At 3:34:26, Mr Cauchi ran back past Sourdough Bakery and stabbed both Faraz Tahir and Muhammad Taha, a fellow security guard.
‘He fatally wounded Faraz, and he seriously injured Muhammad. At 3:34:51, Mr Cauchi fatally stabbed Pikria Darchia.
‘Pikria was the last person who was stabbed fatally that day, but other people were injured after that time.
‘At 3:35:40, Mr Cauchi stabbed the final 16th victim, who was seriously injured.’
Dr Dwyer said that the issues to be examined during the hearings included whether alternatives were available for people suffering from chronic schizophrenia, if there should be restrictions on weapons including the Ka-Bar knife, and questions about the training of security staff.
The inquest will begin on April 28 and continue until May 30.
