Hero who fought Sydney knifeman with bollard to stop him from reaching kids play area says attacker’s eyes were ’empty’

A HERO civilian who bravely faced knifeman Joel Cauchi in the middle of his stabbing spree in Sydney said the killer’s eyes were “empty”.

The French construction worker confronted Cauchi with a bollard to stop him from reaching a children’s play area in a shopping centre.

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Cauchi, 40, unleashed terror on Westfield Bondi Junction shopping centre on Saturday afternoon, stabbing nine people and killing five women – including first-time mum Dr Ash Good – and one man.

Brave witness Damien Guerot told of the terrifying moment he came face to face with Cauchi and stared into his “empty eyes”.

Dramatic footage showed the construction worker standing at the top of an escalator, holding a bollard as if it was a projectile, as Cauchi creeped up the stairs towards him armed with a large blade.

Guerot appeared to be acting as a human shield, preventing the assailant from accessing the higher level – where there was a children’s play area.

Later, Guerot was captured on video running after Inspector Amy Scott as she chased Cauchi through the shopping centre.

He ran with a metal cafe chair in his hand, flanked by other bystanders, before Cauchi turned and raised a knife at Insp Scott.

The inspector, who happened to be nearby when the attack happened, fired a volley of shots at the knifeman and killed him with a bullet to the head.

Guerot told Seven News: “I just see someone do something crazy.

“We tried to catch him but he was going down the stairs, then we saw him going down so we followed, tried to maybe throw the bollard at him but we couldn’t.”

He said of Cauchi: “The eyes was like empty eyes, he wasn’t there,” adding that Insp Amy Scott – who single-handedly took down the killer – “was actually the hero, she did the job”.

Guerot and his friend Silas Despreaux, both construction workers employed by a small building firm on the North Shore, were at the shopping centre together when Cauchi stabbed six people to death.

A friend of both Guerot and Despreaux’s said the pair were doing “OK” after the incident, adding that “it’s a very strange thing for someone”.

The heroic efforts of bothpolice and civilians, such as Guerot, who stepped up amid the violent chaos have been praised by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and other world leaders.

New South Wales Police Commissioner Karen Webb commended the efforts of Insp Scott on Saturday, telling reporters: “She showed enormous courage and bravery, and she will process obviously that.”

Mr Albanese said: “There is no doubt she saved lives through her action and it is a reminder that those people who wear uniform are people who rush to danger, not away from it and I give thanks to every one of them for the actions they have taken up to now.”

It is just one of many accounts of local heroism that have emerged since the assailant unleashed terror on Westfield Bondi Junction shopping centre on Saturday afternoon.

Two men told of how they helped a mother and her baby who had both been stabbed, pressing shirts to the infant’s wounds in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

The barbaric attacker had stabbed the tot as she lay in the pram before turning his knife on her horrified mum.

First-time mum Dr Ash Good, 38, threw her injured baby to the brothers out of sheer desperation.

Tragically, she has since died of her injuries, while her baby is being treated in surgery.

She remains in Sydney Children’s Hospital in a serious condition.

Witnesses who were shopping in Lululemon told how they heard screaming before seeing the attacker “indiscriminately swiping” at people as he calmly walked along the corridors.

Amid the horror, shoppers provided make-shift medical aid to stabbing victims as others attempted to stop the knifeman.

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Source: Sun