Lisa Mayoh: One year since horror day in Bondi that changed us

Even 365 days later, it’s hard to fathom the Bondi Junction stabbings. May the victims of that tragedy rest in peace, today and always, writes Lisa Mayoh.

A year ago today, I got a phone call warning me not to panic – our daughter was fine, in case I was worried after seeing the news.

I was away for the weekend, but knew our then almost 14-year-old had slept over at a friend’s place, and a group of them were going shopping at Bondi Junction for the day, as teenagers do. They ended up going to the beach after netball instead, but the reason I remember the call was because that was the day that Joel Cauchi stabbed 16 people at the busy shopping centre – at random and in less than three minutes.

Six of his victims were killed – Yixuan Cheng, Ashlee Good, Faraz Tahir, Jade Young, Dawn Singleton and Pikria Darchia.

He targeted women. Good was fatally stabbed as she tried to protect her baby daughter, who miraculously survived the senseless attack.

Even 365 days later, it’s hard to fathom, isn’t it?

A member of the public looks at the Commemorative Boards in Oxford Street Mall, Bondi Junction, to mark the 1st anniversary of the knife attack. Picture: NewsWire/John Appleyard

It was one of those moments in time. The day we all lost the freedom – the right – to feel safe, just going to the shops on a Saturday afternoon as we’ve done a million times. To be 14 and wander through Mecca or meet boys at the movies. Suddenly, so much felt unsafe. And not just as a parent, or as a woman. But a human.

A week after the attack, I went to Bondi Junction. Normally, there would be people everywhere, rushing from sport to Coles, carrying bags of dog food or hot roast chicken for lunch. Instead, it was empty.

A family leaves the shopping mall after the stabbing incident on April 13, 2024. It’s hard to imagine how you would react in such an emergency. Picture: David Gray/AFP

Eerie. Silent. Slow. The few people that wandered the streets weren’t rushing to Kmart. They were laying flowers. Reading tributes. Head down, eyes sad. They were survivors. And it was sobering.

It’s hard to imagine how you would react in such an emergency. Do you run, panic and hide? Do you put yourself in harm’s way and try to help? I wouldn’t know where to go or what to do – and I’m 43. A young, impressible 14-year-old would never get over seeing a crazy knife-wielding man run at them like a scene from a horror movie.

A year on, life can return to normal and you don’t think twice about running errands or crowded places.

But you don’t forget.

We will never forget the day that changed everything.

We will always think about Ashlee Good’s baby girl, growing up without the mum she never got to know. The shoppers who saw strangers being stabbed, running so they wouldn’t be next. Damien Guerot, the heroic security guard who confronted the attacker alongside his fallen colleague, Faraz Tahir.

Or police inspector Amy Scott, who shot Cauchi dead. The people that helped. The community that cried. The grieving families that will continue to suffer the pain of that day.

May the victims of that tragedy rest in peace, today and always.

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