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Joel Cauchi, 40, went on a rampage, killing six people, including the daughter of prominent Australian businessman John Singleton. (_VanDeRante/X)
Of the six fatalities, five were women. Authorities further revealed that the majority of the 12 victims who survived their injuries were also women
Australian police on Monday said that the attacker who stabbed six people to death at a busy shopping mall in Sydney may have been targetting women. Of the six fatalities, five were women. Authorities further revealed that the majority of the 12 victims who survived the injuries were also women.
The assailant, 40-year-old Joel Cauchi, was shot dead by police during the rampage at the Westfield Bondi Junction mall on Saturday, located near the world-famous Bondi Beach.
New South Wales Police Commissioner Karen Webb stated that detectives would question Cauchi’s family to ascertain his motive. CCTV footage from the mall showed that Cauchi targetted women, Associated Press reported.
“The videos speak for themselves, don’t they? And that’s certainly a line of inquiry for us,” remarked Webb, adding, “It’s obvious to me, it’s obvious to detectives that that seems to be an area of interest: that the offender had focused on women and avoided the men.”
Ruling out terrorism, the police said the 40-year-old assailant had a history of mental illness.
Meanwhile, the killer’s father, Andrew Cauchi, revealed that his son, who suffered from schizophrenia, targetted women due to frustration at not having a girlfriend.
“Because he wanted a girlfriend and he’s got no social skills and he was frustrated out of his brain,” the killer’s father noted.
“He’s my son, and I’m loving a monster. To you, he’s a monster. To me, he was a very sick boy. Believe me, he was a very sick boy,” the father added.
The only male victim killed was Faraz Tahir, a Pakistani national employed as a security guard at the mall. Tahir was unarmed at the time of the attack.
Police informed the families of two victims based overseas of their deaths. These victims are Tahir, 30, from Pakistan, and Yixuan Cheng, 27, from China. The other fatalities were Jade Young, 47; Dawn Singleton, 25; Pikria Darchia, 55; and Ashlee Good, 38.
Eight victims who sustained injuries remained hospitalised on Monday, including Good’s 9-month-old daughter. Health authorities reported an improvement in the baby’s condition overnight Sunday, from critical to serious. The conditions of the other seven ranged from critical to stable.
(With inputs from AP)
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