Policeman scrambled to rampage finds fiancee among dead
A POLICE officer sent to the Sydney shopping centre massacre arrived to be told his fiancee was among the victims slaughtered in the rampage.
Dawn Singleton, daughter of multi-millionaire advertising guru John Singleton, had only just bought her wedding dress and had started sending ‘save the date’ invitations.
But the 25-year-old’s life was tragically cut short, along with five others, when she was stabbed at Bondi Junction Westfield by Joel Cauchi, 40, on Saturday.
Police officer fiance Ashley Wildey had just finished a shift when he was scrambled to the horrific incident.
But he got there only to discover Dawn – known to friends as Dawnie and one of entrepreneur Mr Singleton’s eight children – was one of the victims and was stood down.
Dr Ashlee Good was murdered as she desperately tried to protect her baby.
Surgery
The 38-year-old osteopath, died in hospital on Saturday evening but her nine-monthold daughter Harriet was said last night to be “doing well” following emergency surgery – with her condition being critical but stable.
Just hours before the attacks, Dr Good had posted a photograph to Instagram with Harriet in her arms. Her family said that they were “reeling from the terrible loss of Ashlee, a beautiful mother, daughter, sister, partner, friend, all round outstanding human”.
Dr Good was walking through the shopping centre when Cauchi pounced and stabbed the baby girl in her pram before turning the weapon on the mother. She grabbed the injured child and threw her to passing male shoppers, who whisked the baby away as Cauchi repeatedly stabbed Dr Good. One said: “She handed us the baby and said, ‘Please help, help’. She was bleeding from her head, her face. The baby was bleeding.” The men used clothes from a store to try and stem Harriet’s bleeding until paramedics arrived. Dr Good was rushed to St Vincent’s Hospital but nothing could be done. Her daughter’s life was saved by medics at Sydney Children’s Hospital.
Dr Good’s family added: “To the two men who held and cared for our baby when Ashlee could not, words cannot express our gratitude.” The only male victim was 30-year-old security guard Faraz Tahir.
Originally from Pakistan, he had been in Australia for a less than a year and was a “cherished member of our community”.
The other three victims were women, with two being named as Pikria Darchia, 55, and Jade Young, 47. French tradesman Damien
Guerot, who picked up a bollard and faced down the knifeman as he made his way up an escalator, said of the killer: “His eyes were like empty eyes, he wasn’t there.”
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese praised Inspector Amy Scott, who confronted and shot dead Cauchi. He said: “There is no doubt that she saved lives.”
Mr Albanese labelled the atrocity as “a horrific act of violence” and thanked leaders across the world, including US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, for their condolence messages.
The King said he and the Queen were “utterly shocked and horrified” by the “senseless attack” and their “hearts go out to the families and loved ones of those who have been so brutally killed”.