Sydney knifeman who targeted women ‘was desperate for a girlfriend’

The Sydney attacker was desperate for a girlfriend, his family has revealed as police confirmed that he had targeted women.

Joel Cauchi killed five women and one man during a knife attack on the Bondi Junction Westfield shopping centre 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 Cauchi 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. The 76-year-old told reporters outside his home in Queensland: “Because he wanted a girlfriend and he’s got no social skills and he was frustrated out of his brain.”

Describing his son as “very sick”, he described trying to deal with the feelings of “loving a monster”.

The victims of the attack were the baby’s mother Ashlee Good, 38, architect Jade Young, 47, artist Pikria Darchia, 55, Yixuan Cheng, a 27-year-old economics student, and Dawn Singleton, 25, who had been buying makeup for her wedding to her high-school sweetheart.

The male victim was Faraz Tahir, 30, an unarmed security guard who had been on his first shift.

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 with schizophrenia at the age of 18, his mother, Michele Cauchi, said.

Helped by medication and with family support, he obtained 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, where he joined escort websites to sell sexual services to both men and women.

Mrs Cauchi said that her son was likely to have been “triggered into a psychosis”, adding: “This is a parent’s absolute nightmare when they have a child with a mental illness, that something like this would happen.

“If he was in his right mind, he would be absolutely devastated about what he’s done.”

On Saturday night, Mr and Mrs Cauchi recognised their son in news footage of the crime scene. The family said they supported Insp Amy Scott, the police officer who killed Cauchi.

“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,” said Mr Cauchi.

As detectives investigated the motive, Chris Minns, NSW Premier, said an inquest would consider the need to strengthen the mental health system.

Flags flew at half-mast in Australia on Monday, and the Sydney Opera House was lit up to honour the victims of the attack.