Bondi Junction stabbing: Inquest hears from counter-terrorism cop
A special operations paramedic has revealed there were issues finding a specialist team to respond to the Bondi Junction attack that killed six people.
Joel Cauchi, 40, killed six people and injured 10 during a stabbing rampage at the Westfield Bondi Junction shopping centre in Sydney’s east on April 13, 2024.
Dawn Singleton, Yixuan Cheng, Faraz Ahmed Tahir, Ashlee Good, Jade Young and Pikria Darchia were all killed in the attack.
Inspector Amy Scott, working alone, shot Cauchi dead during the incident and is credited with saving multiple lives as a result.
A five-week coronial inquest into 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, began on Monday.
On Thursday, the inquest heard from a special operations team paramedic.
The paramedic, who cannot be named, said they first found out about the attack by “accident” while dealing with another matter.
“I’d made contact with Sydney operations officer when I was subsequently told about the incident,” the paramedic told the court.
“The exact words were ‘Someone has just gone nuts with a gun at Bondi’.”
The court was told of the extremely rigorous training and hiring process for special operations paramedics, who are brought in to respond to incidents which can include those in which there is an active armed offender.
The court was told there was trouble with finding a special operations team to respond on the day of the fatal attack, with the paramedic saying rostering was a “historical problem” for the specialist paramedics.
The court was told there are generally years between each recruitment process for special operations teams, and that paramedics believed “we need more numbers and recruitment would be beneficial to taking place”.
More to come