Flashbacks and tears as community set to be allowed back inside Westfield murder scene
The physical reminders of a mass killing have been wiped away but flashbacks and emotions remain as Westfield Bondi Junction reopens for a community reflection day.
NSW
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The physical reminders of a mass killing may have been wiped away, but the emotions and memories hang heavy as Westfield Bondi Junction reopened its doors for a day of reflection today.
The doors slid open at 11am for a community day of reflection — less than a week after a stabbing rampage left six innocent victims dead, a dozen more injured, and the stabber’s rampage halted by a police bullet.
As doors opened, around 100 people had gathered to be among the first inside.
Security held back the crowd while NSW Premier Chris Minns took a solemn walk through the centre with NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb, entering. and emerging, sombre-faced.
After the Premier’s exit, members of the public flowed through the entrance on Oxford Street onto escalators, swiftly taking them to the memorial site.
The atmosphere remains sombre at the site of Saturday’s horrific knife attack.
The doors have reopened for the first time in five days, though shops and restaurants will remain closed throughout Thursday
Members of the public caught up in the attack and their loved ones returned to the scene with floral arrangements in hand, ready to lay their tributes at a designated memorial on Level 4 of the shopping centre.
‘TRAUMATISED’
Among them was 33-year-old Emilie Guillemain, an employee of the centre’s Mecca store, there with a friend to lay a bouquet of colourful roses dedicated to a friend killed in the attack.
Ms Guillemain, who wasn’t working during the incident, said her colleagues who were working were “traumatised” after almost face-to-face with the knifeman.
“Thankfully … our team members were safe, but it was a bit of a close call, because some of them were locking the doors (as he ran past).”
‘EERIE’
Others walking through the centre were not personally connected to the attack, but members of the wider Sydney community who felt moved to pay their respects.
Sutherland Shire father Barry Moore, 52, said after growing up in Bondi, “I just kind of felt drawn to come down”.
Walking through the silent building felt “very eerie”, Mr Moore said, and seeing the tributes moved him to tears.
“You’d never walk through a shopping centre that quiet, that part of it was really, really strange.”
STAGGERED RETURN
Specialist crime scene cleaners have ensured no trace of evidence from Saturday’s horror attack which killed six people and injured 12 others is visible, and flowers arrangements have been installed for some subtle brightness.
Scentre Group chief executive Elliott Rusanow said the staggered return to normal operating was being done this way to allow people to come to terms with the massacre in their own time.
Music is sombre, there is no digital advertising and the usual hustle and bustle of the centre will be minimal until trading resumes on Friday.
Increased security and police are on site for the gradual reopening, as well as counselling services.
DUTTON TRIBUTE
Opposition leader Peter Peter Dutton paid tribute outside the centre, laying flowers to pay respects to the community and the victims of Saturday’s attack.
Mr Dutton alongside other MPs including Andrew Bragg, lay a bouquet of flowers and left a message of condolence.
“It is obviously a very emotional place, the emotions are still raw for many local members of the community,” he said.
“Its striking when you look among the bouquets and the beautiful messages you see teddy bears that sit among the flowers. When you see an attack like this it’s repugnant enough when women and children are targeted.”
“I wanted to be here today to pay respect to those who have lost their lives and honour the very many brave acts and be apart of the healing process.
“A unifying process must happen for our country after a period of grief and horror like this, most importantly my thoughts and prayers are with those who are still in hospital recovering from physical and mental scares which take a lifetime to heal.”
Mr Dutton did not comment on whether he thinks ‘Bollard man’, Damien Guerot should be granted citizenship, claiming it was a matter for Mr Albanese.
“At the moment the focus is on the people who lost their lives and this recovering any other matter can be dealt in due course,” he said.
Regarding his message of condolence, the opposition leader wanted to “send a clear message of thanks to the acts of bravery” throughout the attack.
“ I compel the strangers who put their own lives at risk who tended to those who were injured and the horror of people running from a threat they didn’t understand at the time.
And the act of bravery from the police inspector, no doubt in my mind her act of bravery when you see her striding towards the threat and the way in which she professionally responded absolutely saved lives how many we don’t know, people would have been in harms way for a lot longer.”
Mr Dutton also made a point of unity in his message, making it clear “unifying after a moment of national tragedy is an important one for us to all dedicate ourselves to”.
DONORS ROLL UP SLEEVES TO HELP
Blood donations have jumped 25 per cent since the mass stabbing, with tens of thousands of Aussies rolling up their sleeves to help victims of the Bondi Junction attack.
Australian Red Cross Lifeblood put out a fresh appeal on Monday, calling on people to donate blood in the wake of the rampage.
Since then, they have seen a significant influx of donors responding to the appeal.
“We’ve been really excited about how people have responded to this, I think they’ve seen the blood donations as a way to help and that connection to what happened with that awful tragedy over the weekend,” Steve Eldridge from Red Cross Life Blood said.
“We’ve seen about a 25 per cent increase in NSW with lots of people walking into our donor centres, it’s been a really amazing response.
“Particularly O group and O negative which is the universal blood donor, any of those types we’d love to see you but of course anyone of any blood type we’d like to see as well.”
SOMBRE, SLOW RE-OPENING
Today’s slow, sombre reopening for a community reflection day, comes ahead of regular trading resuming on Friday.
But even then, Mr Rusanow said some business owners have said they need longer to process the tragedy before opening their doors.
“The centre will be quiet, to allow for reflection to occur as members of the community are able to come and pay their respects,” Mr Rusanow said.
New mum Ashlee Good, 38, bride-to-be Dawn Singleton, 25, architect and mother Jade Young, 47, security guard Faraz Tahir, 30, artist Pikria Darchia, 55, and university student Yixuan Cheng, 27, were all killed when crazed knifeman Joel Cauchi, 40, went on a rampage inside the shopping centre.
On Wednesday, Ms Young’s family revealed her partner Noel and one of their daughter’s witnessed the horror attack.
“There are no words to describe the sense of loss, sadness and grief we have been experiencing after the shocking events at Bondi Junction,” the Young family said in a statement.
A fundraiser has been set up to help Ms Young’s daughter’s adjust to “life without their mum”.
Just five of the 12 survivors remain in hospital, with no one listed as critical, NSW Health said.
Hundreds of exhibits have been seized by police and will be subject to forensic investigation over the coming days and weeks.
The NSW government has committed $18m to expedite and expand a coronial inquest into the deaths – similar to actions in the aftermath of the 2014 Lindt Cafe siege.
Premier Chris Minns said the funding would probe the response to the incident and any interactions Cauchi may have had before the stabbings.
The floral shrine outside the centre continued to grow on Wednesday and was visited by several Sydney mayors who travelled to pay their respects and support the Bondi community.
The mayors of Parramatta, Blacktown, Liverpool, Georges River and Hornsby Shire joined Waverley Mayor Paula Masselos at the floral tribute.
“Our community in western Sydney and Liverpool, we’re devastated with this like everyone in Sydney,” Liverpool Mayor Ned Mannoun said. “It’s important we all stand together in these very challenging times.”
Lord Mayor for Parramatta, Pierre Esber said he is deeply saddened by the stabbing rampage.
“We send our wishes to the families of victims from this horrific event and the whole community. I pass this message from all the people of Parramatta, we all feel for you during this time,” he said.
Mr Minns announced a candlelight vigil will be held on Sunday to allow the community to “come together and honour the victims of the Bondi Junction tragedy”.
It will begin at 5.30pm at Dolphin Court on Bondi Beach – south of the Bondi Pavilion.
“This has been a devastating attack that’s touched everybody in the state, whether you knew one of the victims or not,” NSW Premier Chris Minns said.
“This vigil will be an opportunity for the community to stand together to support and honour the victims and survivors of this horrific tragedy.
Attendees are asked to bring their own candle to take part in the vigil.
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