The parents of the Sydney stabbings attacker say they are “extremely sorry” after their son killed six people.
New South Wales Police identified the man behind the attack at the Westfield Shopping Centre in Bondi Junction on Saturday as Joel Cauchi, 40.
He was shot and killed by an officer after fatally stabbing six people – five women and one man – and injuring several others, including a nine-month-old baby.
Read more:Who is the ‘hero’ officer who stopped Sydney attacker?
Speaking on Monday outside their home, Andrew Cauchi said he was “heartbroken” for the victims and “extremely sorry”.
The 76-year-old added: “I made myself a servant to my son when I found out he had a mental illness.
“He’s my son. And I’m loving a monster – to you, he’s a monster. To me, he was a very sick boy.”
New South Wales Police are looking into the possibility that Cauchi targeted women in the attack.
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Sydney knifeman ‘targeting women’
‘Absolute nightmare’
Mr Cauchi suggested the reason his son – who suffered from schizophrenia – may have targeted women was because “he wanted a girlfriend”.
“He’s got no social skills and he was frustrated out of his brain,” he said.
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His wife, Michele Cauchi, also told reporters: “This is a parents’ absolute nightmare, when they have a child with mental illness, that something like this could happen.
“And my heart goes out to the people our son has hurt. If he was in his right mind, he would be absolutely devastated at what he’s done.
“But he obviously was not in his right mind. He’d somehow, had been triggered into a psychosis and he’d lost touch with reality.”
Sixth victim named
It comes after the sixth person who died in the attack was named as Yixuan Cheng.
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Yixuan Cheng
The 25-year-old Chinese national was studying for a master’s degree in economics at the University of Sydney, according to Sky News Australia.
Her name was confirmed by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese a day after the other victims were named.
Ashlee Good, a 38-year-old mum, tried to save her nine-month-old baby Harriet when she was attacked by Cauchi.
She was said to have passed her baby to two men after she was badly injured.
Image:
(Clockwise) Yixuan Cheng, Dawn Singleton, Ashlee Good, Faraz Tahir, Pikria Darchia and Jade Young
Dawn Singleton, 25 and the daughter of well-known Australian entrepreneur John Singleton, was also stabbed.
New South Wales Police also named 47-year-old Jade Young, an architect in Sydney, and 55-year-old Pikria Darchia as victims on Sunday.
Faraz Tahir, 30, who worked as a security guard at the Westfield Shopping Centre, was also killed in the attack.
