‘Lives could have been saved’: Claim as families air anger over shopping centre, security contractor’ response
The lives of some of killer Joel Cauchi’s victims could have been saved with one simple act, an inquest has been told.
The lives of some of killer Joel Cauchi’s victims “could have been saved” had alarms been sounded earlier, an inquest has been told.
It comes as the victims’ loved ones air their anger over claims that a security employee was capable of filling her role unsupervised despite having been flagged for “ongoing issues” in the months before the tragedy.Cauchi killed Dawn Singleton, Yixuan Cheng, Faraz Ahmed Tahir, Ashlee Good, Jade Young and Pikria Darchia during a stabbing rampage at Westfield Bondi Junction in Sydney’s east on April 13, 2024.
Inspector Amy Scott shot Cauchi dead during the incident, which all unfolded in a matter of minutes.
The care of Cauchi, a schizophrenic man who was unmedicated and “floridly psychotic” on the day of the attack, was probed during a five-week coronial inquest into the deadly attack before NSW State Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan in May.
The bombshell claims that lives could have been saved had alarms been sounded earlier, and had a more competent control room operator been present to monitor the CCTV room, were made during the final days of the inquest.
Lawyer for the Good, Singleton and Young families Sue Chrysanthou SC made the claim when the inquest resumed on Friday.
“We are highly critical of the failure to warn shoppers that day by way of a loud speaker alert that there was an armed offender harming people,” Ms Chrysanthou said.
“If a competent control room operator had been present and had witnessed the first attack outside the bakery and took immediate action to issue some sort of warning, then perhaps lives could have been saved and injuries prevented.”
Evacuation alarms were only sounded about two minutes after Cauchi had been killed, the inquest was previously told.
“No alarm was hit, certainly not the correct alarm,” lawyer for Ms Darchia’s family, Daniel Roff, told the inquest on Friday.
“Ms Darchia would have been able to take evasive action, in my submission, but that opportunity was denied to her and she is of course … not here to talk about what she would have done had an alarm been sounded.
“It is obvious that would have made a difference to she and other people in the shopping centre.”
Ms Chrysanthou echoed a similar sentiment about Ms Good’s ability to take evasive action had she been given even 10 seconds of warning.
“She was deprived of that opportunity, we say, because of the failings of the shopping centre owner and the failings of the training in relation to the security … and operations that persisted that day,” Ms Chrysanthou said.
Organisations’ response ‘added to the grief’
The inquest was previously told the sole control room operator (CRO) rostered to the CCTV room as the attack broke out, known as CR1, had gone to the bathroom 40 seconds before Cauchi stabbed his first victim.
When she returned one minute and 40 seconds later, eight people had been attacked — three of whom later died.
She had also been flagged for “ongoing issues” in the months before the attack, with reports also noting she was too slow at responding and would require further training.
The shopping centre’s operator, Scentre Group, and security contractor, Glad Group, have denied claims CR1 should not have been left unsupervised, much to the anger and disappointment of the victims’ families.
Ms Chrysanthou said the evidence supported a finding that CR1 “should never have been in that chair unsupervised on that day”, which she claimed the organisations knew.
The family of Mr Tahir, who was working his first ever shift at the centre on the day of the attack, are also “extremely disappointed” by the organisations’ response, which “added to the grief”.
“The hope by the Tahir family that Scentre Group and Glad Group would take time to reflect — that’s a hope in vain, because Scentre Group and Glad Group maintain even today, after all the evidence before this inquest, that CR1 was competent to do the job she was given,” lawyer representing the Tahir family, Lester Fernandez SC, told the inquest.
“It’s compounded their sadness, and it’s compounded their loss,” he said.
Scentre Group acknowledged Public Announcements should have been made earlier, among other concessions, however the organisation maintained CR1 was competent.
The organisation’s lawyer, Dean Jordan SC, further claimed evidence showed CR1’s performance had improved by the day of the tragedy, chalking up claims of incompetence to hindsight bias.
“This is an example of a natural tendency to rely too heavily on the advantages of hindsight,” Mr Jordan said.
“Because they were unprecedented, it could not reasonably have been known that CR1 would not be competent in responding to those unprecedented attacks.”
Glad’s lawyer, Adam Casseldon SC, earlier said while the company’s employees received a high level of training, they are “not police officers”.
“One must not lose sight of the very fact that Glad employee’s and its staff are not highly trained police operatives or military operatives,” he said.
Counsel assisting the coroner, Peggy Dwyer SC, noted CR1’s incompetence was not meant to be unduly harsh toward her.
“It doesn’t mean that CR1 is a person who is incompetent more generally, not at all, but it means that she wasn’t sufficiently trained and equipped with the appropriate skills at the time for what the role required in the extraordinary event of an AAO,” Dr Dwyer said.
‘Attack’ on killer’s doctor ‘grossly unfair’
The inquest was earlier told the victims’ families were “traumatised” by claims made by Cauchi’s psychiatrist, Andrea Boros-Lavack, that her former patient was not psychotic on the day of the fatal rampage but was instead driven by “sexual frustrations” and a “hatred towards women”.
Dr Boros-Lavack withdrew the following day.
Her lawyer, Mark Lynch, claimed it was “grossly unfair” to ask the psychiatrist for her opinion of Cauchi’s mental state when he carried out the attacks given she had ceased treating him years prior.
“It is deeply regrettable that the families felt further traumatised by those remarks, but in one sense (the questions) should never have been asked,” Mr Lynch said.
Counsel assisting the coroner Peggy Dwyer SC shook her head following the remark, with a scoff heard throughout the courtroom.
He also claimed there was “no warrant” for the coroner to refer Dr Boros-Lavack for investigation following calls by some of the victims’ families.
“If the families want to refer the matter off to investigation … it’s open to them to do so,” he said.
He added his client felt “under attack” while giving evidence back in May, after Dr Dwyer described the psychiatrist as having displayed a lack of insight and “exceptional” belligerence.
Originally published as ‘Lives could have been saved’: Claim as families air anger over shopping centre, security contractor’ response
