Bondi knifeman stalked at other shopping malls and Googled 'how to kill'

15 April 2024 , 13:30

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Joel Cauchi fatally stabbed six people and injured at least 12 more in a violent rampage (Image: facebook)

The Westfield Bondi Junction knifeman stalked other shoppers and searched online "how to kill," reports claim.

It is said Joel Cauchi, 40, researched killing before going on a violent rampage at the Westfield shopping centre in Bondi Junction in Sydney, Australia, during which he fatally stabbed six people and injured at least 12 more.

The killer's distraught family have spoken about his obsession with knives and his long journey with mental illness. Cauchi's mother, Michelle, said her son was "obviously not in his right mind". She added: "He somehow had been triggered into psychosis and he'd lost touch with reality."

But it is believed Cauchi had Googled "how to kill" in the weeks before the massacre. He had reportedly been spotted at Westfield shopping centres in Penrith and Parramatta, in Sydney's west, in recent weeks.

Simon Bouda, A Current Affair's crime editor, said: "I have learned today that the investigators have been able to download data from his phone, which has indicated that he had a fixation with killings.

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"He also had a fixation with knives. That tells us it wasn't a spur of the moment attack. Beforehand, he was thinking about killing, and that is terribly frightening."

The assailant was obsessed with knives, it is said (facebook)

He told Mail Online police are hoping the CCTV footage from within Westfield Bondi Junction is never released to the public because it is so "chilling". Six people - five women and one male security guard - were killed in Cauchi's stabbing rampage, while several others were injured.

A three-month-old baby is among those injured and her mother has died, after trying to protect the tot. Ashlee Good, 38, was described as "a beautiful mother, daughter, sister, partner, friend, all round outstanding human and so much more" by her devastated family.

Mr Bouda said the CCTV, though, is "so horrendous and cold and callous that the police don't want it to become public." Officers have assessed it after Cauchi, from Brisbane, raised raising the knife to an officer who shot him dead. The heroic officer, a high-ranking inspector of police, has been praised for her bravery.

Bradley Jolly