‘I went in knowing he would probably kill me’: Hero cop Amy Scott
Hero police inspector Amy Scott had accepted her life might be over in a matter of minutes when she ran into Westfield Bondi Junction on April 13, 2024.
Police & Courts
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Hero police inspector Amy Scott had accepted her life might be over in a matter of minutes when she ran into Westfield Bondi Junction on April 13, 2024.
“I actually felt nauseous [as I ran in],” she said on day two of the inquest into the rampage, which claimed the lives of six people and wounded 10 more.
“In my head, I’d resigned myself to the fact I was probably going to die,” Insp Scott said, revealing she made the decision to enter the building without waiting for back-up from colleagues.
She said police training had prepared her for the fact there was a 60 to 70 per cent chance of survival if she was an officer wearing a ballistic vest and working as part of a pair.
“I was neither of those,” she said.
But Insp Scott was not entirely alone that day as she ran towards the sky bridge, where she would come to shoot attacker Joel Cauchi dead just moments later as he ran at her.
Tailing her, armed with a plastic chair and a shopping trolley, were French nationals Damien Guerot and Silas Despreaux, who had earlier tried to intervene and stop Cauchi’s rampage.
When their efforts proved unsuccessful, they had alerted Insp Scott to Cauchi’s whereabouts, then followed her as she ran headfirst into danger.
“One of them tapped me on my back and said: ‘You’re on your own, we’re coming with you’,” Insp Scott said.
Both men described Insp Scott as a “hero” but said having that label thrust upon themselves did not sit well.
“You can’t feel comfortable with that, for us we just reacted in a normal way,” Mr Despreaux said.
“We’re not heroes, we just did what needed to be done.”
The court was told the duo sprang into action when they saw people running out of the building and overheard someone say: “There’s a man stabbing people”.
“Let’s go catch him,” Silas told his friend, before they both acquired bollards from a nearby store and began hunting for Cauchi.
They noticed him almost immediately on a level below where they were, recognising him as the attacker by the knife he carried in his hand.
“I knew I needed to stop him, even if it meant hurting him,” one of the duo told police when interviewed.
Mr Guerot confronted Cauchi as he came up the escalator, brandishing a bollard towards him in an act of extraordinary bravery and defiance.
Footage of the moment went viral online and has since become an enduring image associated with the exceptional bravery demonstrated by many civilians that day.
And of their decision to run after Insp Scott?
“She was alone, we knew the situation,” Mr Guerot said.
“She’s a hero … I think she did an amazing job that day.”
Insp Scott acknowledged in court on Tuesday the courage shown by both men but reserved tears of gratitude and awe for the younger police officers who fearlessly raced into Westfield, without thought for their own safety.
“I wanted to mention my colleagues and team on this day,” she said.
“I said earlier we as a society think that police don’t fear, don’t feel the burden and pressures everyday humans do.
“I can assure you they do. When they ran in that day, they ran in with the same intentions as me.”
She revealed some of the officers involved in the incident have been unable to return to work.
Counsel assisting the coroner, Peggy Dwyer SC, asked Insp Scott what was going through her mind when Cauchi began running towards her on the sky bridge, knife in hand, prompting her to open fire.
“(I thought) that he was going to kill me,” she said.
She told the court the incident was over in a matter of moments but she recalled every detail.
“It’s a peculiar thing; it’s very fast but in my mind it was extremely slow,” she said.
“I knew the first shot hit him due to the jolt of his body, but he continued to come towards me. I fired two further shots as I was unable to stop the threat with the first one.”
Insp Scott wasn’t the only witness to become emotional during the day, with Chief Inspector Chris Whalley also tearing up in the witness box as he recalled the gallantry and dedication of the younger generation of cops who assisted that day.
“It’s an incident I won’t forget,” he said.
“When I finished, as an example of what young police do and what we ask them to do, I walked back through the centre and I stopped and spoke to some of the 25-odd people from Maroubra Police Station that attended that scene and stopped next to some police who were guarding one of the scenes in the centre.
“[I] asked why they were standing where they were, which was close to one of the people who were affected, and their response was ‘because I don’t want to leave them alone’. These are the things that stay with you.’’
The inquest will hear on Wednesday from NSW Ambulance assistant commissioner Brent Armitage and critical care paramedic Chris Wilkinson, both of whom attended Westfield in the aftermath of the stabbings.
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