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The man who carried out a stabbing spree in a Sydney shopping centre was “angry he couldn’t get a girlfriend”, his parents said.
Joel Cauchi, 40, roamed through the busy Westfield Bondi Junction on Saturday with a large knife, killing six people and injuring 12 others, including a nine-month old baby.
His father Andrew Cauchi, 76, said he was “extremely sorry” to the victims and his son was a “very sick boy” who was frustrated.
“He’s my son. And I’m loving a monster – to you, he’s a monster. To me, he was a very sick boy. He wanted a girlfriend and he has no social skills and he was frustrated out of his brain,” he said.
It comes as the city was rocked by a second stabbing attack on Monday, with four people injured inside Christ The Good Shepherd Church at around 7.15am local time (9.15am BST).
Footage from the incident, broadcast live on the church’s YouTube page, appeared to show the church leader stabbed repeatedly by a man who approach the altar before worshippers rushed forward to come to his aid.
Parents of Joel Cauchi ‘extremely sorry’ after son kills six people on stabbing rampage
Authorities urge residents to not take law into hand
Authorities urged people not to take the law into their hands.
“You will be met by the full force of the law if there’s any attempt for tit-for-tat violence in Sydney over the coming days,” New South Wales state Premier Chris Minns told reporters.
Emergency crews said they attended to around 30 people after the clash outside the church, and seven were taken to hospitals with injuries. Several police were also hospitalised with injuries and 20 police vehicles were damaged, New South Wales state Police Commissioner Karen Webb said.
It was the second major stabbing attack in just three days in Australia’s most populous city after six people were killed and 12 injured in a knife attack at a beachside mall in the Bondi area on Saturday.
Time to unite, says Albanese as he condemns violent extremism
Prime minister Anthony Albanese said there was no place in Australia for violent extremism.
“We’re a peace-loving nation. This is a time to unite, not divide, as a community, and as a country,” he said during a media conference.
It comes as four people including Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel of the Assyrian Christ The Good Shepherd Church were injured in a knife attack on Monday.
Australia says Assyrian church stabbing was terrorist act
Australian police said today a knife attack on an Assyrian church bishop and some followers in Sydney was a terrorist act motivated by suspected religious extremism, as the country reeled from a second stabbing incident in three days.
At least four people were wounded in the attack, including bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel of the Assyrian Christ The Good Shepherd Church, when a man lunged at him with a knife during a service live-streamed yesterday.
The incident at the western Sydney suburb of Wakeley triggered clashes outside the church between police and an angry crowd of the bishop’s followers who demanded the attacker be handed over to them.
Police arrested a male teenager at the scene on Monday and were forced to hold him at the church for his own safety as the crowd of worshippers gathered outside.
“We believe there are elements that are satisfied in terms of religious motivated extremism,” New South Wales state Police Commissioner Karen Webb said during a press conference.
“After consideration of all the material, I declared that it was a terrorist incident.”
Sydney Opera House illuminated with black ribbon for mall stabbing victims
Family say woman killed protecting baby in Sydney attack was a ‘beautiful human’
The family of a woman who died while attempting to save her baby during the Sydney stabbing attack have said she was a “beautiful human” and said the baby is “doing well”.
The attacker, who killed six people in the attack at Bondi Junction before being shot dead, was identified by police as 40-year-old Joel Cauchi from Queensland.
New South Wales Police do not think he was motivated by terrorism.
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Man who filmed Sydney shopping centre knifeman speaks of ‘disbelief’
What we know about the six victims of the mall attack
The victims have been named as Dawn Singleton, 25, Jade Young, 47, who worked as an architect in Sydney, 55-year-old Pikria Darchia, security guard Faraz Tahir and Chinese student Yixuan Cheng. Ashlee Good, 38, died in hospital from her wounds and her nine-month-old daughter Harriet has undergone surgery.
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Parents of ‘monster’ Sydney knife attacker say son was angry he ‘couldn’t get a girlfriend’
Speaking on Monday outside their home, Andrew Cauchi said he was “extremely sorry” to the victims of his son’s attack and that he was “heartbroken” for their loss.
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‘Hero’ police officer who saved countless lives in Sydney mall attack named and pictured
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Source: independent.co.uk
