“It was just beyond horrible."
A couple recalled how they survived the horrific knife attack in Australia’s Sydney on April 13, 2024.
Shoi Ghoshal and her husband Debashis Chakrabarty, from Sydney, were at the Westfield Bondi Junction shopping centre when a knife-wielding man began stabbing shoppers.
The couple heard some people rushing inside the store and thought a fire had broken out but “people were saying someone is stabbing rampantly”.
She revealed that they hid in a backroom along with 20 to 25 other people, using cardboard boxes to barricade the doors.
Shoi said: “We went into a backroom, a storeroom, and used boxes to barricade ourselves in.”
An elderly woman was crying for her husband who was still on the outside.
Shoi explained that when the group made calls to the police, they relayed what was happening and told them to “stay there, stay calm”.
The group was later evacuated through the emergency exit of the mall, where they were met with the sight of a swarm of police cars.
She said: “It was just beyond horrible.
“It plays on your mind that you could have been one of the victims.
“We are grateful we are safe and our thoughts are with those who have suffered. It is terrible for their families.”
In the horrific attack, four women and one man were killed at the scene, while a fifth woman died from her injuries at a hospital.
Eight people are being treated for their injuries at hospitals around Sydney, including a nine-month-old baby who was last reported to be in surgery.
A lone senior officer near the scene was the first to respond and saw the suspect lunging at her before she shot him dead.
She conducted CPR until the arrival of paramedics but the suspect could not be revived.
Praising her as a “hero”, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said:
“The wonderful inspector who ran into danger by herself and removed the threat that was there to others, without thinking about the risks to herself.”
Police identified the officer as Inspector Amy Scott, adding she had no current plans to speak publicly about the incident.
The attacker was identified as 40-year-old Joel Cauchi, who was known to police but had never been arrested or charged.
NSW Assistant Police Commissioner Anthony Cooke said Cauchi suffered from some mental health issues.
He said: “We are continuing to work through the profiling of the offender but very clearly to us at this stage, it would appear that this is related to the mental health of the individual involved.
“There is still, to this point… no information we have received, no evidence we have recovered, no intelligence that we have gathered that would suggest that this was driven by any particular motivation – ideology or otherwise.”
Police said Cauchi acted alone and that there is no ongoing risk to the public.
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