Bondi Westfield security officer not ‘match fit’, says counter-terrorism expert

A control room operator during the Bondi Westfield stabbing attack has been described as not “match fit” by an international counter-terrorism expert, who said she was “the wrong person at the wrong time” in the high-pressure job.

A coronial inquest also listened to a harrowing triple zero call made 10 minutes after Joel Cauchi began his knife rampage, in which the operator passed on “mixed up” and confusing information to police.

CCTV footage of Joel Cauchi at Westfield Bondi Junction.

Monday marked the opening of the fourth week of evidence in the Lidcombe Coroner’s Court. Psychological and security experts are expected to reflect on the horrific mass stabbing and response over coming days.

The first was international British counter-terrorism expert Scott Wilson, who was tasked with reviewing the security response.

Much evidence has been heard about the competence of a control room operator, known only as CR1 by court order, who was watching Westfield’s cameras on the day of the attack.

Cauchi had turned his military knife first on Dawn Singleton at 3:33pm and then Jade Young seconds later on April 13, 2024.

But against protocol, CR1 had stepped out of the room 40 seconds before Cauchi began his attack.

In three minutes, Cauchi had fatally wounded six people and injured 10 others.

Security guards had rushed toward the danger and believed they were being shot at while trying to save lives.

“You watch CR1, she doesn’t appear to be picking anything up on those screens … I don’t think she was match fit to do the job,” Wilson told the inquest on Monday.

The streets outside Westfield Bondi Junction in lockdown on the night of the attack.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

“Unfortunately for you,” Wilson told the security firm’s lawyer. “CR1 was the wrong person at the wrong time in that room.”

A second control room officer stepped in and began pressing alarm systems, but the inquest has heard the active armed-offender-specific alarm was not triggered.

Joel Cauchi.Credit: Facebook

CR1 called emergency services about four minutes after Cauchi’s attack began, and she was on hold for six minutes as calls flooded in from terrified shoppers.

When CR1 got through, about 10 minutes after the attack began, Cauchi was dead.

“Hi, we’ve got an armed offender in the Bondi Westfield, 500 Oxford Street, we’ve been informed there have been shots fired,” CR1 tells the triple zero operator.

“Do you know if anyone’s been injured?” the operator asks.

“We’re not aware ... We’re trying to evacuate the centre as soon as we can ... Last reports was he’s on level 5. We have three-to-four people injured with stabbings ... Police are doing CPR on a person on level five.”

Wilson said the information that went to police “was all mixed up” because CR1’s call could have suggested the attacker had the gun, rather than police, and multiple people may have been shot.

Further, CR1 did not explain the attacker was dead. After 10 minutes, Wilson said more certainty and detail should have been passed on.

“I cannot believe she did not know the single offender had been shot,” he said.

“If that information was given one minute in, I could understand. But 10 minutes in was not good enough.”

The inquest has heard there were concerns about CR1’s competency before the attack, including around armed offender training, but there had been pressure to fill the difficult role.

Westfield’s lawyer said it was important to note that the civilian security guards were “human beings in the face of a catastrophe, in fear of their lives”.

The inquest has previously heard police believed a second attacker may have been in the centre, perhaps with a gun, which triggered a lockdown of the scene before specialist paramedics could get inside to treat the wounded.

The injuries sustained by almost all victims have been considered unsurvivable. Only the injury inflicted on Faraz Tahir, a security guard on his first shift, has been considered “probably unsurvivable”.

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