Female-focused knife frenzy caused by desperation for a girlfriend

THE Sydney attacker was desperate for a girlfriend, his family has said, as police confirmed he had targeted women.

Joel Cauchi killed five women and one man during a frenzied knife attack on Bondi Junction Westfield on Saturday. Karen Webb, the New South Wales police commissioner, said: “The videos speak for themselves. It’s obvious … the offender had focused on women and avoided the men.”

The majority of the 12 people he seriously wounded were female, including a baby girl.

Andrew Cauchi, his father, said on Monday he knew why his mentally unwell son had targeted women.

“Because he wanted a girlfriend and he’s got no social skills and he was frustrated out of his brain,” the 76-year-old told reporters outside his home in Queensland. Describing his son as “very sick”, his visibly shaken father described grappling with the feelings of “loving a monster”.

The victims include the baby’s mother Ashlee Good, 38, architect Jade Young, 47, artist Pikria Darchia, 55, student Yixuan Cheng, 27 and Dawn Singleton, 25, who was buying make-up for her upcoming wedding to her highschool sweetheart when she was fatally stabbed. The male victim was Faraz Tahir, 30, a security guard. Anthony Albanese, the Australian prime minister, told ABC News: “The gender breakdown is, of course, concerning.”

Cauchi grew up in a loving home, had been “top of his class” and had many friends until he was diagnosed schizophrenic at age 18, his mother Michele Cauchi said. He managed to obtain a university degree and went on to work as an English tutor.

Since tapering off his medication, the 40-year-old had, in recent months, been homeless in Sydney and had been selling sexual services to both men and women.

Mrs Cauchi said that her son was likely “triggered into a psychosis”.

“This is a parent’s absolute nightmare when they have a child with a mental illness that something like this would happen,” she said. “If he was in his right mind, he would be absolutely devastated about what he’s done.”

The family said they supported Inspector Amy Scott, the policewoman who killed Cauchi.

The attacker’s father said: “If I was in her uniform, and this wasn’t my son … and he runs at me with a knife, I’d have to do the same thing.”