The New South Wales coroner’s court has released footage showing the moment the Bondi Junction stabber launched himself towards a lone police officer at speed holding a 30cm knife.
The video, made public on Thursday afternoon, is a compilation of CCTV footage and a 3D reconstruction of the route NSW Police inspector Amy Scott took when she entered Westfield Bondi Junction on 13 April 2024 in pursuit of Joel Cauchi, who had just stabbed 16 people.
Scott, flanked by two French bystanders and a security guard, can be seen walking up an escalator, then starting to run when she sees Cauchi, about 20 metres away.
In the inquest into the stabbing attack, which killed six people, the court on Tuesday heard that Scott then used silent signals, not wanting to shout within earshot of Cauchi, to direct a woman with a pram – who was hiding behind a large plant pot – to run. The officer called out “mate” to get Cauchi’s attention. At 3.38pm, she ordered him to drop the knife, and when he started to run at her, fired her gun.
The inquest heard earlier in the week that Scott fired three rounds, with two hitting Cauchi and a third hitting a pot plant behind him. Cauchi fell 6.5 metres from Scott.
On Thursday, the court heard that a specialised paramedic who was duty officer for NSW Ambulance’s special operations team on the day of the Bondi Junction stabbing attack that he learned of the major incident “by accident”.
The duty officer also told the inquest into the deaths that specialist paramedics did not have easy access to ballistic personal protective equipment (PPE).
The witness, known only as “SOT1”, told counsel assisting the coroner Emma Sullivan there were 57 trained special operations team (SOT) paramedics in Sydney. They wear ballistic body armour and helmets when supporting tactical operations police in high-risk environments.
Joel Cauchi, 40, who had schizophrenia, killed Ashlee Good, 38, Jade Young, 47, Yixuan Cheng, 27, Pikria Darchia, 55, Dawn Singleton, 25, and Faraz Tahir, 30. He injured 10 others during his stabbing spree on 13 April that started at about 3.33pm and ended when he was shot and killed by Scott at 3.38pm.
The New South Wales coroner’s court heard on Thursday that SOT1 learned of the incident at 3.46pm “by accident”. While on the phone to his control centre regarding a separate issue, he was told: “Someone has just gone nuts with a gun at Bondi and we don’t have time for this.”
His superintendent then sent a text message telling him there was an ongoing significant incident involving stabbings and there was “sketchy” information.
SOT1 told the Lidcombe coroner’s court he should have been told about the incident by the control room team sooner, given he was the duty officer for the specialist team.
“I can only make some assumptions … they were overwhelmed and that was an oversight at that time due to the level of information they were receiving,” he told Lester Fernandez SC, the lawyer for the family of security guard Tahir.
Fernandez then asked: “That’s their very role isn’t it, to be making contact with people such as you?”
SOT1 replied: “That is correct.”
SOT resources had already been allocated to the incident, the court heard, but the lag in passing the details on to SOT1 meant that accessing specialist ballistic PPE – needed when SOT teams entered a zone with a potential active armed offender – was delayed.
One SOT at Bondi Junction requested to use police ballistic PPE instead. That request had to be escalated upwards twice before the paramedic was permitted to use the police gear.
Since September 2023, the SOT ballistic gear had been kept in an undisclosed central location, rather than at each officer’s station. Some SOT paramedics travelled from as far as Penrith and the Central Coast to Bondi Junction.
SOT1 said on Thursday: “We need the equipment to be available at a location that is convenient.”
He said a lack of personnel meant the police’s tactical operations unit did not have special operations team paramedics rostered to it on the day of the stabbings.
The duty officer said good weather that day meant that the roster was constructed with the expectation that there could be significant activity in the Blue Mountains and near the ocean.
He said rostering decisions would have been easier with a “full complement” of SOTs and “more” specialised paramedics would be beneficial.
The court heard the delay in accessing ballistic PPE and the rostering issues did not have a clinical impact on 13 April 2024.
SOT1 commended the specialist paramedics on duty that day and said Scott and two French civilians who helped her stood out in their efforts to stop Cauchi. “Those actions are simply remarkable,” he told the inquest that is scheduled to run for five weeks.
Ch Insp Colin Green, the manager of NSW police’s terrorism protection unit, told the court on Thursday that it was difficult to prepare for active armed offenders with a “high level of intent and even a moderate level of capability”.
The national security messaging of “escape, hide, tell” in such situations needed to be promoted.
“This should be a message that is as common to our young people as ‘Get down low and go, go, go’,” he said, referring to the fire service’s mantra.
Green told the state coroner, Teresa O’Sullivan, that it was “about saving lives, it’s about preventing injuries”.
• In Australia, support is available at Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636, Lifeline on 13 11 14, and at MensLine on 1300 789 978. In the UK, the charity Mind is available on 0300 123 3393 and Childline on 0800 1111. In the US, call or text Mental Health America at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org
• This article was amended on 1 May 2025. An earlier version incorrectly stated that witness “SOT1” gave evidence about trained special operations team paramedics to Peggy Dwyer SC; in fact this evidence was given to Emma Sullivan.
