Westfield Bondi attack: John Singleton’s daughter, new mum among victims

A Bellevue Hill architect, refugee security guard, first-time mum and the daughter of millionaire businessman John Singleton are among the six victims of the horror attack.

Dawn Singleton, who died in the Westfield Bondi Junction massacre. Picture: LinkedIn

The daughter of millionaire businessman John Singleton is among the victims of the horror Westfield Bondi Junction stabbing attack.

Friends of Dawn Singleton have started sharing tributes to the soon-to-be-married 25 year-old.

“Dawn, I should be writing your wedding speech instead I sit here sobbing coming to terms with how life isn’t fair that you are no longer here,” her best friend Jade O’Connor wrote on Facebook.

“Dawn, you were my best friend, my absolute whole world. You were kind and caring and the absolute best dog Mum. You lit up every room you walked into. This year you were meant to get married to the love of your life, and you were meant to be the Godmother to Baby O.”

“I’m not sure how I am meant to live in a world without you. I’m so broken and can’t believe this is reality. I love you so much Dawn and I will remember you every day for the rest of my life.”

Faraz Tahir

Refugee and security guard Faraz Ahmad Tahir is the fourth victim named after Saturday’s tragedy at Bondi Westfield.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Australia confirmed the death of Mr Ahamad in a short statement on Sunday afternoon.

As first reported by The Australian, Mr Ahmad– who is a 30-year-old Muslim Pakistani – was killed while working as a security guard at the shopping centre.

The Australian understands Mr Ahmad’s family in Pakistan, and some in the UK, have been notified of his death.

Faraz Ahmad Tahir.

This publication also understands that Mr Ahmad’s body was watched over at Lakemba Mosque, southwest Sydney, and was now being prepared to be transported overseas to his family overseas.

“It is with heavy hearts that we also mourn the loss of Faraz Tahir, a cherished member of our community and a dedicated security guard who tragically lost his life while serving the public during this attack,” an Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Australia spokesperson said, revealing he sought safety as a refugee in Australia.

“Faraz Tahir, aged 30, sought refuge in Australia just a year ago, fleeing persecution in his home country of Pakistan. He quickly became an integral part of our community, known for his unwavering dedication and kindness.

“Faraz was not only a valued member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Australia but also actively contributed to the charitable endeavours of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Organisation.”

Members of the Ahmadiyya community will come together at Westfield’s Bondi Junction at 6pm tonight to commemorate his death and for silent prayers for all lives lost in Saturday’s tragedy.

The Pakistan Consulate remains aware of the situation.

Jade Young

Jade Young, of Bellevue Hill, has been identified as a victim of the Bondi Junction stabbing attack.

Ms Young was an architect at Georgina Wilson Associates, a mother-of-two and a beloved member of the Bronte Surf Club.

Sydney architect Jade Young was killed in the attack.

President of the Bronte Surf Life Saving Club Basil Scaffidi sent an email to members on Sunday remembering beloved member Young.

“All of us watched with distress as events unfolded in Bondi Junction yesterday, knowing that in a community as connected as ours we would all be touched in some way by the tragedy,” he wrote.

“It is with profound sadness that we share the loss of member, Jade Young.”

“The … family are involved and much-loved members and contributors to the club, most notably in the Nipper and Cadet programs. On behalf of Bronte Surf Lifesaving Club, we extend our deepest condolences to the Mclaughlin family.

“Many club members will be affected by the loss of Jade and the impact of this senseless and tragic event will affect each of us differently over time.

“We encourage you to seek support from family, friends, fellow club members or to speak to your GP to assist you in processing this tragedy.”

A post on the Georgina Wilson Associates Instagram page from December 2021, says she had been an architect at the firm for the past nine years, working on high-end residential and commercial spaces.

“She attended the prestigious Architectural Association School in London, earning a special accreditation in Building Conservation – a degree that she puts to great use working on heritage properties in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs,” the post said.‎

Ashlee Good

A nine-month-old baby in the pram with Mum, in a luxurious shopping mall on a glorious autumn afternoon in the most beautiful city in the world.

This child, this place, this moment – and their dreadful misfortune to be there at the moment a knife-wielding stranger, 40, was on a killing spree, leaving the mall’s cream marble floors slippery with blood.

The mother – 38-year-old osteopath Ashlee Good – has died at St Vincent’s hospital and medics are still fighting to save her baby daughter, who has undergone surgery overnight and is a stable but serious condition.

Stabbing victim Ashlee Good.

Dr Good was pushing the baby, nine months, through the centre when the attacker stabbed her in her pram, The Daily Telegraph reports.

As Dr Good thrust the bleeding infant into the arms of strangers, the knifeman then turned the weapon on her.

Dr Good later died in hospital.

“She handed us the baby and said ‘please help, help’,” a witness told Channel Nine at the scene.

“She was bleeding from her head, her face … the baby was bleeding,” he said.

The first time mum was described as a “beautiful person, a wonderful athlete”.

Bleeding from her own wounds, the mother’s first instinct was to protect her baby.

“The mum came over with the baby and threw it at me, and I was just holding the baby,” one of a pair of brothers told 9News.

“I just helped out, just holding the baby and trying to compress the baby, and same with the mother, trying to compress the blood from stopping [sic] and calling ambulance and police.

“There was a lot of blood on the floor.”

“We just kept yelling out to get some clothes to help us compress and stop the baby bleeding,” he said.

Her family remembered her as an “all round outstanding human”, confirmed in a statement on Sunday that her baby is “currently doing well”, and expressed their gratitude for the “expert care and attention of the medical team at Sydney Children’s Hospital.”

They have also thanked two men who the child in the moments after the attack occurred.

“Today we are reeling from the terrible loss of Ashlee, a beautiful mother, daughter, sister, partner, friend, all round outstanding human and so much more,” the family wrote.

“We appreciate the well wishes and thoughts of members of the Australian public who have expressed an outpouring of love for Ashlee and our baby girl.

“We can report that after hours of surgery yesterday our baby is currently doing well. We are so grateful for the expert care and attention of the medical team at Sydney Children’s Hospital.

“We would also like to thank the New South Wales Police for their kindness and diligence in this tragedy and emergency services for getting our baby the care she needed as quickly as possible.

“To the two men who held and cared for our baby when Ashlee could not – words cannot express our gratitude.

“We are struggling to come to terms with what has occurred. We would appreciate peace and privacy while we work through this as a family.

Dr Good was an osteopath and health coach who meditated every morning “without fail”.

She had only recently returned to work after maternity leave with her daughter.

On the morning of her death, Dr Good posted a video to Instagram of her daughter in her car seat, eating a snack.

Dr Good had set the clip to the song My Girl by the Temptations, featuring the lyrics: “I’ve got sunshine on a cloudy day.”

Dr Good was being remembered last night as a loving mother, elite athlete and dedicated professional.

Dr Good told a podcast created by wellness business Healthspace Clinics, her former employer, about her daily routine.

“Probably the main thing I do on the daily that keeps me inspired is meditation.

“I meditate every single morning without fail and it definitely keeps me in the best space.

“It’s something that took me a long time to get into the habit of doing and committing to, because for so long I thought no, I can’t sit still or I can’t be quiet – but it’s so powerful.”

She described working with busy corporate types suffering serious physical pain from sitting all day.

“Since moving to Sydney and being around the corporate world a lot more, I’m really seeing the pain people are in.”

In recent years Dr Good had been working as an account executive at DocuSign, and posted one month ago about her return to work after giving birth to her first child.

“And just like that, 7 beautiful months have passed and it’s time to return to the office.

“It’s not lost on me what a privilege it is to become a parent.

“And then to be gifted some extra time away from work to spend with your child. It’s very special.

“Very thankful to DocuSign for their parental leave policy; I have felt nothing but kindness and support.

“It feels great to work for a company that truly enhances the journey into parenthood.

“And it feels great to be back!”

Journalist Laura Jayes told Sky News the mother was a “beautiful person, a wonderful athlete” and described her husband and family members rushing to hospital.

“She is just such an incredible person, she’s one of those all-rounders, and incredible athlete.

“She was so excited to be a new mother and it’s all just been ripped away this afternoon.”

The knifeman. Picture: Twitter

Victims at the scene.

Where the attack took place

Westfield Bondi Junction is Sydney – the sprawling shopping centre at the highest point south of the harbour, at the crest of a ridge line that runs from Paddington in the eastern CBD all the way to Bondi Beach.

Sydneysiders can see ‘WBJ’ from wherever they go; the gleaming towers soaring into the cloudless blue sky on this crisp April day.

People come here for first dates, for afternoon daddy-daughter movie sessions, for sushi lunches, for workouts, for a $7 banh mi or a $30,000 handbag.

It’s the mall that famously killed off Oxford Street, luring the store-holders and their shoppers into the airconditioned serenity in 2003, when it was built on the site of a gaggle of pubs and shops where Sydneysiders have been drinking and shopping since the 1850s.

And it’s also a place of death.

Several people have fallen to their death over the years, drawn by the deep, sunlit voids scattered throughout the mall, like the huge oval-shaped space outside David Jones in the northern part of the centre, where shoppers on the top floors can look down and see the tiny figures sipping coffee several floors below.

In 2017 a tourist, 71-year-old Bernard Gore, who was in the early stages of dementia, died alone in a stairwell at the mall after becoming disoriented and wandering through a door that locked behind him.

His body was found 20 days later.

Last June a high-level underworld figure, Alen Moradian, died after two men sprayed his Porsche with bullets in the underground carpark of a residential tower adjacent to the mall.

Bondi Junction is in the heart of Sydney’s Jewish community and home to its largest synagogue, and when reports began emerging on Saturday afternoon of a killing spree at the mall, thoughts immediately leapt to the possibility this was another October 7 – a murderous attack on civilians just going about their lives.

The brothers who helped the mother and baby were just two of the heroes Sydney was thanking last night.

There was ‘bollard man’, who guarded the top of an escalator as the attacker stood below, refusing to let him come up and continue the killing.

Another hoodie-clad man walked slowly towards the killer as he jogged past shops with the knife in his right hand, shepherding him away from panicked shoppers trying to flee.

And the female police inspector, working alone, who rushed to the mall, found the man, challenged him and, when he raised the knife, shot him dead.

She then commenced CPR as the man sprawled on the floor.

Assistant Commissioner Anthony Cooke said the officer stopped the carnage.

“A single unit officer, an inspector of police, was nearby, attended, went into the centre, directed by a range of people.

“She confronted the offender … as she continued to walk quickly behind him to catch up with him he turned, faced her, raised a knife.

“She discharged a firearm and that person is now deceased.

“She saved a range of people’s lives today.”