A police inspector hailed for her efforts preventing further casualties in a mass stabbing will testify about what happened as she approached the killer in a busy urban shopping centre.
Joel Cauchi had been experiencing psychotic symptoms when he armed himself with a 30-cms long knife and entered the Westfield at Sydney’s Bondi Junction on April 13, last year.
He launched an indiscriminate attack, killing six people and injuring 10 others, in a tragedy being examined at a coronial inquest.
As that hearing continues today, Inspector Amy Scott will give evidence about how she ended Cauchi’s rampage.
Scott was the first police officer to arrive on the scene.
She pursued the 40-year-old, shooting him twice as he ran towards her with the knife.
Yesterday, the lead investigator into the incident said he was in awe of the way Scott had handled the situation, including having the awareness to tell bystanders to get out of the way before she discharged her firearm.
“She acted bravely and professionally,” Detective Chief Inspector Andrew Marks told the court.
Following her testimony, two civilians – commonly reported as the “bollard men” – will give evidence about what they did during the attacks.
Silas Desperaux and Damien Guerot tried to stop Cauchi from harming others in the shopping centre and witnessed him shot dead in front of them.
The court heard yesterday Cauchi had been diagnosed with schizophrenia as a teenager and had been successfully treated until 2019 when he stopped his medication.
He lived a largely transient life away from the support of his parents in Toowoomba, near Brisbane, and had been homeless when he stepped foot into the Bondi Junction Westfield for the last time.
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