Australian inquiry reveals stabbing timeline

[Pelican Press 0]

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

*********** inquiry reveals stabbing timeline

It took just three minutes for Joel Cauchi to ***** six people and injure 10 more during a stabbing rampage at a popular Sydney shopping centre, an inquest into the ******* has found.

A New South Wales Coroner’s court heard on Tuesday that Cauchi, 40, was mentally ill and sleeping rough at the time of the incident, and had come off his medication for schizophrenia, prompting his parents to confiscate his hunting knives.

The probe also found that no alarm sounded inside the centre until after Cauchi had been shot ***** by police.

The incident on 13 April devastated Australia, where mass ******* is rare, and prompted a national conversation about gendered *********.

All up, 14 of the 17 people stabbed that day were female – including five of the six who were *******, and a nine-month-old baby. The NSW police commissioner said at the time that it was “obvious” Cauchi had targeted women.

Tuesday’s hearing ***** out the areas of focus for an extensive inquiry which is due to begin in full in April 2025. The investigation will look into possible security lapses and failings in the mental health systems in NSW and Queensland, Cauchi’s home state.

Speaking in court, Dr Peggy Dwyer SC, the counsel assisting the coroner, said Cauchi had been off his psychotropic medication since 2019, despite authorities being repeatedly warned of his deteriorating state. Cauchi had come “to the attention” of Queensland police several times, she said.

In her statement, Dwyer also provided the first detailed timeline of how the ********* actually unfolded in Bondi that day.

She said that Cauchi – who had been sleeping rough in the suburb of Maroubra on the morning of the ******* – entered Westfield shopping centre around 15.30 (local), and began stabbing people roughly three minutes later, after removing his ****** in line at a bakery.

His first victim was Dawn Singleton, 25, followed by 47-year-old ***** Young and 25-year-old Yixuan Cheng. He then attacked Ashlee Good, 38, from behind.

Good – who has been described by her family as an “all-round outstanding human” – then saw Cauchi stabbing her nine-month-old baby girl in her pram, and was further wounded trying to save the child’s life, the court heard.

Faraz Tahir, a 30-year-old security guard, was stabbed next, alongside a colleague. Onlookers at the time said he ***** “trying to save others”.

Cauchi fatally stabbed Pikria Darchia, 55, before being shot ***** by NSW Police Insp Amy Scott, who had been on duty close by. Between the moment Scott arrived and the moment she ******* Cauchi just over a minute had passed, the court heard.

In total, the ******* lasted for five minutes and 43 seconds – yet no alarm sounded during that time.

“It’s presently unclear why it took so long for the alarm to sound,” Dwyer said.

Before opening the hearing, state coroner Teresa O’Sullivan acknowledged the pain and loss the broader community was still feeling as a result of the *********.

“I offer my sincere condolences to the family and loved ones who are here in court today as well as those who can’t be here in person,” she told the court, according to the Guardian Australia.

“It’s important to me and my assisting team… that you feel safe, you feel heard and you feel cared for throughout this proceeding.”

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

#*********** #inquiry #reveals #stabbing #timeline

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up