Bondi Junction stabbing victim Jade Young's family give impact statements to coronial inquest

Australia Broadcast Center

7 days ago

The grieving family of a woman murdered in the Bondi Junction stabbing has told a court the killer is a "coward" and that "no good will come from this inquest".
In April last year, Joel Cauchi killed six people and injured 10 others with a knife in the Westfield shopping centre in Sydney's east.
WARNING: This story contains content that readers may find distressing.
The five-week inquest at the NSW Coroners Court examining the attack and how another incident can be prevented in the future is now in its final days.
Elizabeth, the mother of 47-year-old victim Jade Young, said on Thursday her daughter had been "denied a future".
"There is no comfort knowing she was hunted … with a pigging knife," she said.
"For me personally, no good will come from this inquest.
Ms Young said having sat through hours of testimony, she thought "some people have lost [the] fact that six much-loved people are dead, murdered".
Ms Young said an "unmedicated, unmonitored" man with schizophrenia stabbed her daughter.
"She died without knowing what was happening," she said.
"He killed a woman, a mother, with her nine-year-old daughter right beside her.
"She was able to draw for me a plan of level four to know exactly where her mummy [died] … in blue crayon."
Ms Young said the absence of her daughter had affected her profoundly and she cannot stand noise, startles easily, no longer listens to music, sleeps badly and "dreads Saturday afternoons".
"She exists in the past only."
Ms Young was supported by her husband Ivan, Jade's brother Peter and Jade's pet dog Teddy.
"To say I'm angered by my sister's death is an understatement," Peter Young said.
"His murderous intentions are well-documented … his rapid hunt found 16 victims, 14 of which were women on that sunny afternoon," he said of Cauchi.
"What a coward."
He said Jade's partner Noel was with her when she was attacked and he "confronted Cauchi" and "performed CPR on his wife".
"Both in her work and life, Jade exemplified goodness," he said.
Oral submissions for recommendations will be heard in October, with final findings expected to be handed down before Christmas.