Joel Cauchi reportedly murdered 6 people at Westfield Bondi Junction Sydney on Saturday afternoon 13 April 2024.

[This is noting "Cauchi" is a rare name most commonly associated with Malta. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cauchi . Malta is a very small island state in the Mediterranean.]

"MailOnline on 14/4 at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13305759/Joel-Cauchi-identified-Westfield-Bondi-junction-knife-killer-Horrific-new-details-emerge.html reports:

"Joel Cauchi, 40, "murdered six people in a stabbing spree at Bondi Junction Westfield's shopping centre was looking for surfing buddies just days before the massacre.

Six innocent shoppers, including five women and a man, were stabbed to death at Bondi Junction Westfield's shopping Centre on Saturday at about 3.20pm.

Police identified the knifeman as 40-year-old man Joel Cauchi, who moved to Sydney from Queensland a month ago.

He lived with schizophrenia, and police are investigating a potential history of targeting women." Cauchi was shot dead by police.

...There is no suggestion that Cauchi was part of any particular ideology, with police treating the horrific attack as a mental-health-related incident..."

From the above MailOnline article - here is CCTV or shopper image of Cauchi carrying the knife at Westfield Bondi Junction http://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/04/14/01/83605343-13305759-image-m-36_1713054054120.jpg

Another article where police identify "Joel Cauchi" http://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-14/nsw-police-have-identified-the-offender-of-the/103706030

Guns are controlled by a licence system, which would usually rule out guns for people with a severe mental illness. But knives are uncontrolled.

Hi Mavs,

I'm so glad that we have strict gun laws.

Imagine what the carnage could have been if we
didn't.

This is a shocking incident. I hope that the nine month
baby makes it. The mother, died.

Sydney, was where I grew up - and I have such happy memories
of Bondi. I can't even begin to imagine the shock that many
must be feeling, including the police officer - who was so
brave.

It will take a long time for people to recover from the shock
of this. Going shopping in the future will make us all nervous.

Hi Mavs,

Just a thought.

It's been mentioned that the attacker was suffering
from schizophrenia. I can't help thinking why
he wasn't under medication and in care? His family
must have known about his condition. We've been
told he was sleeping in his car, or at the back
of homeless shelters. And that he was looking for
people to befriend.

If he came from a nice family, where were they?

It would be a dreadful way to learn how your son
died this way.

A dreadful situation all round.

Those who want to look & speculate for causes of such horrible incidents should start by looking at the society that has evolved since socialist Leftism !

Hi Indyvidual,

The Mayo Clinic in the US tells us that a chemical
imbalance and other changes in the brain could
cause schizophrenia. They also say that it's not
easy to determine the causes because the symptoms
can vary from one person to another.

We're told that while factors seem to play a role,
other genetic factors seem to play a role, such as
childhood trauma (frightening or life threatening
things happening to you - such as abuse), stress,
problems at birth and significant drug use are also
associated with the illness.

Foxy,
Of course there are many circumstances but the most contributing factor to schizophrenia is drug abuse, not to be confused with drug use. Laws too have contributed a lot to the frustrations in modern society. But there's no getting away from the fact that Leftism has contributed considerably to the stresses of life by idocies such as political correctness, the relentless pushing into our faces of Lgbitxyz% & other stupidly dreamed-up artificial issues.

Indyvidual,

You've raised some valid points.

However, we have to be careful not to blame others
when we think things are skewed in our society.

Like all defense mechanisms used
to avoid uncomfortable feelings blame is considered a
form of emotional avoidance. We can't always put the blame
on others to justify our own actions.

We have to try to take responsibility for our own
behaviour as rational people, and not continue with
"blame avoidance."

He was a male escort and targeted women because he came to Bondi believing he would get work, but did not have money at the time, he could not afford a takeaway meal, so sat down for an eat in meal - pay later.

Blaming society for what Cauchi did is curious.

Cauchi is unusual in his apparent determination to murder as many people as possible.

Wikipedia reports http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Bondi_Junction_stabbings

"The "40-year-old man, Joel Cauchi, stabbed multiple people in the Westfield Bondi Junction shopping centre in the suburb of Bondi Junction in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Six victims – five women and one man – died from their injuries. Eleven others were injured, including a nine-month-old baby. The perpetrator was fatally shot by a police inspector."
________

Even people severely mentally ill are often mixed cases with some consciousness of their actions. Wikipedia further reports http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Bondi_Junction_stabbings#Perpetrator

"Cauchi reportedly suffered from mental health issues and was first diagnosed as such at the age of 17, with investigators stating that he was believed to have been schizophrenic.

Cauchi's mental health is understood to have deteriorated in recent years. Queensland Police said that Cauchi had been known to them for the past four to five years, with their last recorded interaction with him being a "street check" over suspicious behaviour in December 2023."

Schizophrenia may be particularly hard (for doctors, family and those with this illness) to manage because medication may become less effective. Also those mentally ill may refuse or plain forget to take their meds.

My gut feeling tells me there'll more, closer to the truth info coming to light before long & I'm definitely not relying on conspiracy theorists on that !

Perhaps we shall learn more about mental health issues
like Cauchi's illness, from this tragic event
and what we can as a society
do to prevent these sort of situations from happening
again. But I suspect it won't happen over night.
Mental health issues are complex and it's not a
question of one size fits all.

So true Foxy

From all the people I've known who have had one or both major mental illnesses Schizophrenia is generally harder to manage than Bipolar.

There is justified and heavy reliance on medications for life. They may provide a constant balance for Bipolar but declining or at least changing impact on Schizophrenia.

Also a stabilised life situation is essential with heavy reliance on self realisation that they have a major illness, reliance on family, on available psychiatric services, maybe on psychologist services, NDIS, adequate housing, etc.

Here is the first paragraph of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizophrenia

"Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by reoccurring episodes of psychosis that are correlated with a general misperception of reality. Other common signs include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions (i.e., paranoia), disorganized thinking, social withdrawal, and flat affect. Symptoms develop gradually and typically begin during young adulthood and are never resolved.

There is no objective diagnostic test; diagnosis is based on observed behavior, a psychiatric history that includes the person's reported experiences, and reports of others familiar with the person. For a diagnosis of schizophrenia, the described symptoms need to have been present for at least six months (according to the DSM-5) or one month (according to the ICD-11).

Many people with schizophrenia have other mental disorders, especially substance use disorders, depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, and obsessive–compulsive disorder."

To be continued down the tread.

Hi Mavs,

A family friend's husband was diagnosed with bi-polar.
She ended up divorcing him. When on medication he was
a lovely bloke. However, he would keep going off his
meds. One evening she woke up with him standing by
the bed with a knife in his hand. She became afraid
of him.

He killed himself a year later.

There's so much we as a society have to learn.

I believe that far too many people refuse to see the difference between mental illness & absolute self-centredness.
It is just so easy to claim mental instability rather than admitting to trowing tantrums. The assessors of mental illness are mostly of the latter variety themselves. As long as the pretence of illness is allowed to override the requirement of responsibility we'll not find solutions.

How disappointing for some of the Usual Suspects the blokes name was Joe and not Muhammad, I'm sure they were all ready to unload bucket full.

As for the rubbish from Indy, that this tragedy can in some way be linked to what he calls "Leftism", were Martin Bryant and Brenton Tarrant influenced by your so called "Leftism".

were Martin Bryant and Brenton Tarrant influenced by your so called "Leftism".
Paul1405,
I wouldn't say influenced by Leftism but definitely affected by it. As for Cauchi's name you'd better think twice before trying your hate speech tactic again. I know former eastern Europeans who adopted Irish/English names here. Any Ali or Ahmed can change their name to Joel or as in your case Paul !

Hi Foxy

I don't think your line "There's so much we as a society have to learn." is helping things.

"Society to blame" is already being conflated on many social websites by those with an axe to grind or or obsession to push.

In their world everyone is to blame except Cauchi.

Put another way, being TOO understanding is often exploited by some with mixed up feelings about society.

Just wait for them to blame the police.

Hi Mavs,

Perhaps I didn't express myself well.

I wasn't blaming society for what Cauchi did.

What I was trying to say that as a society there
was much we needed to learn about mental illness
and how to treat it. I was not trying to excuse
Cauchi's behaviour.

Hi Foxy

Yep, I realise you're not "blaming society for what Cauchi did".

But your attempts at even-handedness are providing oxygen to someone on this thread who would appear to have a rather concerning political obsession.

Regards Mavs

Hi Mavs,

So should I be silenced because of the political obsessions
of others?

Hi Foxy

Umm NO. Its up to you.

But just beware some in OLO are pretty extreme in their views - who even see moderates as weaklings.

There's one good thing so far. Some more extreme OLO commenters have decided not to comment at this thread. I suspect they are currently busy commenting at more extreme Shadow sites, somewhat irritated that Cauchi is a very Catholic name.

Hi Mavs,

The bloke suffered from mental illness, extreme Schizophrenia, he acted alone he wasn't affected by "Leftism" as Indy tries to make out. On Saturday I read a heap of garbage which inferred that it must have been a terrorist attack against eastern suburb Jews, payback for Gaza, the extrapolation was astounding, for example one said he looked "Arab".

Hi Paul

Yes the extremist rumour mill, with dreamed up stories for money, even spread to Channel Seven.

See "False claims started spreading about the Bondi Junction stabbing attack as soon as it happened" of Monday 15 April at http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/apr/15/false-claims-started-spreading-about-the-bondi-junction-stabbing-attack-as-soon-as-it-happened some parts:

"Police said on Sunday they had no indication that the stabbing spree committed by Queensland man Joel Cauchi was motivated by a particular belief system – but that didn’t stop speculation spreading on social media that the assailant was motivated by a variety of religious or political ideologies'

"Each tragedy that attracts global attention is now an opportunity for social media accounts to attract followers and revenue off the back of inflammatory claims, or to fit the incident into a predetermined narrative [like "Leftism" is to blame] before the facts have emerged, and this weekend was no different"

"The false accusation was further boosted in an incident described as a “human error” by the news outlet [Channel] Seven"

"...many of the misleading claims made about the attack over the weekend, including those from neo-Nazis accounts claiming the offender was non-white “to fit into their anti-immigration narrative”.

"“Disinformation on X is rewarded – literally financially, but also in that the first story that gets out there is often the one that stays in people’s heads,” they said."

TO RACISTS

Cauchi is a Catholic Maltese name. Malta is 89% White - with most in Malta able to speak Italian and often English. Many of their ancestors come from Italy (especially Sicily - near to Malta) and from the UK. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malta

I almost feel sorry for Paul1405 & his many attempts to make any incident racial. I maintain that the stupidity of the Doctrine of the Left is the crux of most societal problems today. To try to make everything a race based issue is simply a sign of the extremists indoctrinated by that mentality.

According to medical opinions people living with
schizophrenia are usually no more violent or
dangerous than the rest of the population if they
are receiving effective treatment.

We're told that the current medical field is moving
towards tailored medicine especially as far as schizophrenia
is concerned. It's stressed that it's important to identify
vulnerable schizophrenia populations and provide efficient
treatment.

According to Joel Cauchi's parents, Joel was diagnosed with
schizophrenia when he was 17 years old. He's never displayed
any signs of violence. However, his mother explained that
because he felt good, he wanted the doctor to decrease
the dosage of his medication. His mother suspects that he
must have stopped taking his meds altogether, thinking he
was fine and no longer needed them.

She feels that as a result, he must have had a psychotic
episode and was no longer in control. She claims this would
not have happened had he still been on medication.

A tragic incident for all concerned.

I watched an interview with Joel Cauchi's parents last night, they looked to be decent Aussie folk, you could say third generation, dinky-di as good old Indy, maybe even more so. I don't think their name was ever Abdulllah and Aabidah and they changed it to Wally and Beryl, just to Anglophy themselves. Did any one else notice Cauchi was wearing the patriotic colour's of green and gold. I bet some on here have a footy jersey just like Cauchi's.

Hi Foxy,

You're right, mental illness is a shocking problem in Australia. My wife worked 10 years in NZ, in a front line institution working with people suffering from mental illness, they were very difficult to treat, two suicides in 10 years, countless attempts, arson, broken bones, fights. One poor woman jumped from the roof, she lived, 2 broken legs, she wanted to fly.

I deal with mentally ill people coming into our charity, to describe them as unpredictable is an understatement. They can be as nice as pie today, crazy as a cut snake tomorrow. We've had violence, we've had weapons in possession, we've had the police called, we've had drug dealers and one person od'd one day, ambo's called and the police. We have a book full of incident reports.

Just as a side; The guy at the local camping shop admits he makes plenty out of selling knives.

Thanks for sharing Paul.

I also have known people with mental issues.
Some as a result of what they experienced
during a war, others with bi-polar. None
though were violent on anyone else except for
self-inflicted harm.

A friend of my brother's - in his teens hung himself.
He was viciously bullied at school. His parents found him
in their garage. They were good folk, working for the
Salvation Army.

Six people were murdered by a nut job who, in the past, would have been locked away from them and everyone else. Thanks to the goody-goody bleeding heart Left, dangerous lunatics have the same "rights" as everyone else - to the detriment of everyone else.

More people were saved by a police office - with a gun. A Clock 9mm pistol, not known for its stopping power, but fortunately for the officer herself, and everyone else, it worked this time. Most of the filth shot in the chest with these weapons survive.

Hypocritical politicians, including Albanese, made the most of the opportunity to be insincere and lay flowers. The usual chatterboxes demanded immediate citizenship for a man on a working visa who fended off the murderer with a bollard.

The media referred to well-know man not as a grieving father whose daughter was murdered, but as a multi millionaire.

The 7 day news cycle over, it will be forgotten by all but the families of victims and the people who witnessed the horror.

Grasping Westfield will do nothing to improve safety (it's not a police function to guard private property) and the whole thing will be re-run sometime in the future.

The news of the stabbing of a bishop and a parish priest
at the Assyrian Church of Christ The Good Shepherd in
Wakeley (near Liverpool) in Sydney shocked many of us this
morning.

It unfortunately has been described as a "terrorist"
attack by police. Done by a 15 year old teenager.
No one has been killed. And more information needs to be
forthcoming to produce calm. Whipping things up in the media
does not help anyone.

Amid tensions in western Sydney, the Grand Imam of the
Ahmadiyya Muslim community in the area, said that the Muslim community
unequivocally condemned the attack on the Assyrian Orthodox Christian
Church - in the strongest possible terms.

The PM also stressed that there is no place for extremism in
Australia. In our communities people of different beliefs
live side by side. We need to stress what unites us and
respect should be maintained at all times.

Let us all hope that this will all calm down soon and peace
and calm shall be restored sooner rather than later.

We need to stop using dehumanizing language and try to
remain calm. Not inflate the situation.

In a video just released the 15 year old attacker
is seen being held on the ground inside the church,
surrounded by church goers.

The teenager can be heard speaking in Arabic:

" If he (the bishop) didn't get himself involved in my
religion. If he hadn't spoken about my Prophet. I
wouldn't have come here. If he just spoke about his own
religion. I wouldn't have come."

Which goes to show that we have to weigh out words and
think before we speak. There's a lesson for all of us here.

Hi Foxy

Authorities are required, by laws, to declare a Terrorist act if the evidence warrants it. The judiciary are also part of the processes.

The stabbings by Cauchi the christian may well have been followed by sectarian/religious Copycat
stabbings (at the Wakeley Assyrian Eastern Orthodox Church) yesterday by a 15 year old.

Authorities are now MOST PROBABLY trying to avert Revenge attacks against mosques and other muslim institutions or individuals in Sydney or in towns/cities where others might wish to retaliate.

Burning down institutions at night has been a sectarian violence tactic worldwide.

Also rightwing extremism is probably being kept an eye on - opportunist acts wise.

Here is a constantly updated website on the Wakely Stabbings http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Wakeley_stabbing

Hi Foxy

Please provide the links of the articles and videos you are referring to.

Regards Mavs

WAKELEY STABBINGS

"Declaring church stabbing a TERRORIST ACT
allows police to 'explore [the Wakeley Stabbings] in full'

See the ABC News" 4min 30sec Video uploaded about 8am, 16/4/24 at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MR8Aww3N0pA

Some of the text below the video:

"Extremism expert [Dr] Josh Roose says by [the NSW Police Commissioner] declaring the incident a TERRORIST ACT immediately [at 1.35am 16/4/24] police allow themselves the [wider legal powers and manpower] resources "to really explore this thoroughly".

[Dr Josh Roose] "says a [TERRORIST ACT declaration] will activate "an array of wider powers", and to look into the extent to which the individual was acting alone."

Much more contextual detail is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MR8Aww3N0pA

Hi Mavs,

Here's the link:

http://theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2024/apr/16/australia-news-live-stabbing-sydney-wakeley-church-bishop-nsw-police-chris-minns-bondi-bruce-lehrmann-brittany-higgins?filterKeyEvents=false

The Domino is activated !

Hi Foxy

Unfortunately your link http://theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2024/apr/16/australia-news-live-stabbing-sydney-wakeley-church-bishop-nsw-police-chris-minns-bondi-bruce-lehrmann-brittany-higgins?filterKeyEvents=false didn't work - could be a platform problem with the end code "?filterKeyEvents=false" not helping.

BUT I subscribe to the Guardian - so try

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/apr/15/wakeley-stabbing-sydney-christ-the-good-shepherd-church

and also see:

"X and Meta issued takedown notices over Wakeley church stabbing content" of about 12noon Today 16/4/24
at http://www.cyberdaily.au/government/10433-x-and-meta-issued-takedown-notices-over-wakeley-church-stabbing-content

Which states in part:

"The Australian eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, has issued notices to social media giants Meta and X to take down “extreme and gratuitous violent material” regarding a violent incident that occurred at a Sydney church overnight...the companies have 24 hours to remove the material or be issued with a fine."

“While the majority of mainstream social media platforms have engaged with us, I am not satisfied enough is being done to protect Australians from this most extreme and gratuitous violent material circulating online,” Inman Grant said during a press conference.

“That is why I am exercising my powers under the Online Safety Act to formally compel them to remove it. I have issued a notice to X requiring them to remove this content. A legal notice will also be sent to Meta this afternoon, and further notices are likely to follow. I will not hesitate to use further graduated powers at my disposal if there is non-compliance.” WHOOAA!

That's the sort of thing you would like to hear Indy. Unfortunately for YOU its all UNTRUE
Paul1405,
Oops, sorry wrong thread !

Hi Foxy

1. As I highlighted yesterday at 11:45:22 AM http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?discussion=10376&page=0#359952

"Burning down institutions at night has been a sectarian violence tactic worldwide."

About 7 hours later the Guardian reported: http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/apr/16/police-treating-as-a-terrorist-attack-the-alleged-stabbing-of-sydney-bishop-during-livestreamed-mass-ntwnfb

"leaders of the Lakemba mosque in Sydney’s west revealed they had received threats to firebomb the mosque on Monday night and would have heightened security over the next week."

2. I also commented in the initial comment on this thread

"But knives are uncontrolled."

Posted by Maverick, Sunday, 14 April 2024 1:07:12 PMT"

The same Guardian article at http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/apr/16/police-treating-as-a-terrorist-attack-the-alleged-stabbing-of-sydney-bishop-during-livestreamed-mass-ntwnfb reported 2 days later:

"Asked if knife laws should be strengthened in NSW following the incidents at the church and Bondi Junction in recent days, Minns noted rules had already been tightened following the murder of a paramedic in recent months, but said he was open to exploring reforms.

“I’m not prepared to rule anything out right now. Obviously when people are being killed and you’ve got a situation where a knife is being used, then it would be irresponsible not to look at,” Minns said."

Unfortunately Mavs is often on the money.

Hi Mavs,

The news at the moment is distressing all round.
It's as if the world's gone mad. As if it's not enough
that we have conflicts happening in the Middle-East,and
in Russia, we now have things going awry on the home
front. Not only with stabbing but with women disappearing
from towns like Ballarat, we have people dieing from eating
mushrooms, and drinking soft drinks. An American former
President is on trial - and running for office again.

What's next?

Hi Foxy

Yeah its a bad time. I'm losing sleep. And need to get away from the keyboard and exercise more.

On "What's next?"

Revenge attacks on Sydney or other city Mosques or against individual Imams (on the street or at home) or against other muslim leaders are possible. Attacks on muslim schools or kids are also possible.

I reckon massive Israeli missile strikes (and maybe airstrikes) on Iran are likely soon. This is in revenge for Iran's missile and drone strikes on Israel a few days back.

A huge and bloody Israeli invasion of the rest of Gaza, that is Rafah, is also likely, soon.

Bugger Trump. I hear he's been falling asleep at his own trial http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/15/trump-asleep-first-day-hush-money-trial Some light relief.

Cheers Mavs

Hi Mavs,

Getting away from the keyboard is an excellent idea.
The outside world is distressing enough without
having some of the personal comments here being
hurled. I'm finding it all a bit much at the moment.
I often think that some here just wait to attack.
I've never heard of people dividing others into -
Left/Right pigeon holes before until I came onto this
forum. Here they seemed obsessed with it.

Me - a Leftie?

My father would turn over in his grave.

Hi Foxy

My parents read The Australian avidly for decades. This was when it was deeply pro-Aboriginal but still very conservative in most other respects.

So I agree. Political extremists on OLO threads choose to see life in black and white - like their idol Trump. ie. they obsess about the so-called Left rather than being more sophisticated in seeing each person as having a wide range of viewpoints, depending on the situation.

BTW I've started a new forum thread on this very News Exhaustion topic. It says simply:

"With the Bondi Junction and Wakeley Church stabbings, these few days have been tragic, tense and rough, even for people far from Sydney.

How do you feel?"

and is at http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?discussion=10380

Thanks Mavs,

I feel goddam awful. As if insanity now prevails.

I just hope that things will stabilize, not worsen.

I want calmness to come back to us all.

My father would turn over in his grave.
Foxy,
Well, it's up to you to let him rest in peace !

There's so much we as a society have to learn.
Foxy,
Learning is not the problem, not thinking is !

Political extremists
Maverick,
If you're aware of it then why for crying out loud are you still a raving Leftie ?