Andrew Cauchi, the father of Bondi shopping mall killer Joel Cauchi, inset, says his son was in a “religious trance” during the stabbing attack. Photo / Patrick Hamilton for Daily Mail Australia
Andrew Cauchi, the father of Bondi shopping mall killer Joel Cauchi, inset, says his son was in a “religious trance” during the stabbing attack. Photo / Patrick Hamilton for Daily Mail Australia
Joel Cauchi stabbed six strangers to death at Westfield Bondi Junction mall in Sydney’s eastern suburbs last April.
The 40-year-old, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia aged 17, also injured a dozen more – including a baby – before being shot dead by NSW Police Inspector Amy Scott.
The killer’s father Andrew Cauchi claims his son was not suffering a psychotic episode but was being used by “Satan” after losing his belief in God.
Joel Cauchi had been diagnosed with schizophrenia aged 17, but his father Andrew Cauchi told the Daily Mail Australia this week he believed the brutal attack on Saturday afternoon shoppers in Sydney’s eastern suburbs was not a psychotic episode.
“It wasn’t the schizophrenia. It was in the spiritual realm. He was fighting Satanic demons and they won … Joel needed [the] help of church when the demon attacked him. He lost his battle, and Satan used him.”
Cauchi stabbed 18 people at random on April 13 last year, killing six – including Ashlee Good, 38, who saved the life of her 9-month-old daughter Harriet when both were stabbed.
The 40-year-old attacker was shot dead at the scene by NSW Police Inspector Amy Scott, whose arrival to help was among dozens of scenes of heroism and terror captured on cellphone video footage and then spread across the internet.
One act of heroism captured on video was Damien Guerot using a bollard to halt Cauchi’s ascent of an escalator, with the French construction worker later describing Cauchi as having “empty eyes”.
Damien Guerot used a bollard to fend off Joel Cauchi in the midst of the Bondi mall stabbing attack.
Guerot’s further comment that Cauchi’s demeanour was like “he wasn’t there” had convinced the dead man’s father his son was in a “religious trance”.
Joel Cauchi had been popular, sporty and a good student, studying German and Mandarin with the dream of working as a political aide before he was diagnosed with schizophrenia aged 17, his father told the Daily Mail Australia.
“Everyone who knew him loved him … but he went from being extremely popular to not getting girls at all when he got schizophrenia.”
Joel Cauchi, 40, was popular and sporty but struggled after being diagnosed with schizophrenia aged 17, his father says.
His son “hated being schizophrenic” and – under the supervision of a psychiatrist – family had helped him safely remove himself from medication after “years” on anti-psychotic drugs, Cauchi told the Daily Mail Australia.
“His body started working, he started chasing, chasing women, he got his brain back. It unravelled because after my son went off his drugs ... and was again enjoying his life, he turned his back on God.”
His son was a “compassionate, lovely boy” before he became unwell but would be remembered as “a mass murderer, because that’s what he is”, Cauchi said.
“He is a mongrel dog, a bastard of a man for killing people.”
This still taken from 9News coverage showed heavily armed police entering Westfield Bondi Junction mall from the roof during Joel Cauchi's deadly stabbing rampage. Photo / 9News
Cauchi and his wife Michele had their son’s body cremated, and there was no headstone because they didn’t want it vandalised or visited.
He wasn’t sure of the exact location of his son’s ashes, except that he didn’t want them in his home, Cauchi told the Daily Mail Australia.
“It’s too painful … if no one mentions my son again, I’d be happy because it’s all a major pain.”
Flowers were left at an impromptu memorial at Bondi Junction on April 14 last year. Pictured inset are four of the six victims, top: Ash Good and Jade Young. Bottom: Faraz Tahir and Dawn Singleton. Photo (background) / AP
An inquest into the deaths of Good and the five other victims – bride-to-be Dawn Singleton, 25, economics student Cheng Yixuan, 27, married mum Jade Young, 47, artist Pikria Darchia, 55, and security guard Faraz Ahmed Tahir, 30 – will take place in April.
What is schizophrenia?
Schizophrenia is a long-term mental illness, which usually develops in a person’s teens or 20s.
It can affect people differently, and there can be times where symptoms cause more problems, and times where they’re well managed.
Those with the illness don’t have multiple personalities, but their thinking may be disordered and it may be hard for them to tell what’s real and what’s imaginary.
Symptoms vary but the main ones are the same as psychosis, as well as changes in behaviour and mood or function.
Schizophrenia can usually be effectively treated with medications.
