Latest news with #AmyScott
News.com.au
26-05-2025
- News.com.au
Brave cop's ‘impressive' act in Bondi massacre
EXCLUSIVE When Amy Scott came face to face with knife-wielding Joel Cauchi, it was the first time she'd ever had to pull the trigger on a 'live threat' let alone a mass murderer. Like all general duties officers, the inspector had completed her annual day-long firearm training at shooting ranges every 12 months and in her 19 years in the force has faced her share of violent, tense, situations. But nothing compared to the stand-off with a man she knew had already killed innocent civilians. And she had every reason to believe he would strike again. 'What she did was pretty impressive,' said a special operations officer superiorly trained and ever ready for such a mass emergency with a 'live threat' and mass casualties. 'We train for this kind of thing every shift, but general duty cops don't,' said the officer whose name can't be revealed. 'They have their yearly training and a one-off four-day course but I think it's pretty safe to say we were lucky that day that it was her. 'She's someone who clearly had the nous, the calm under pressure, the control and the guts to tackle him head-on and make sure civilians were out of harm's way. Other general duties officers might wait for back-up or fight feelings of wanting to run the other way. 'We can do the training, but you never know how you are going to react until you are put in that situation. Yep she did good.' Another special ops officer said Inspector Scott's ability to 'hit the target's centre of body mass' was proof of her proficiency and character under the most immense pressure. 'She shot three times and hit him twice, right where he needed to be shot. It's pretty impressive.' Inspector Scott insists she's no more of a hero than any of the other officers, paramedics, security staff, hospital emergency crews and regular shoppers faced with such unimaginable terror in Westfield Bondi Junction on Saturday April 13, 2024. She says any of the police officers would have, and did, rush into the building just like she had - she just got there first. 'I actually felt nauseous as I ran in because in my head, I'd resigned myself to the fact that I was probably going to die,' Inspector Scott told the inquest into the massacre. 'So when you do your active armed offender training, originally they would talk about your percentages and chance of survival, and you're looking at a 60 to 70 per cent chance of non-survival, and that's if you're partnered up and vested up, and I was neither of those.' Inspector Scott was referring to the training introduced in the wake of the Lindt siege on December 14, 2014, when gunman Man Haron Monis held 18 people hostage until police stormed the building 17 hours later. Ironically Inspector Scott was one of the dozens of first responders who rushed to Martin Place all those years ago when the emergency call came across the police radio. A coroner ruled it was a 'terrorist incident' for which Monis was solely responsible but found authorities had made major errors, including by delaying entry, during which time a hostage was killed. In response the new police training focused on ending 'active shooter' situations more quickly, in a divergence from their policies around other hostage scenarios. Inspector Scott told the Bondi Junction inquest she completed the four-day intensive course in 2016. 'It was very intense. It was over a four day period. I remember it was out at Castle Hill, and the big change and shift in that it was a set of circumstances around shifting away from that contain, negotiate,' she said. 'So, the rapidity of what an offender might be doing … if they're actively using a weapon of some form to take lives quickly, contain, negotiate, the traditional method is not suitable in responding to that. 'It was about training us on methods to use in that active armed offender situation and how to respond. It's, 'Don't wait. Go. Stop the killing. Stop the dying'.' Those words, 'Don't wait, stop the dying' were ringing in the ears of Inspector Scott - a former Cessnock High school captain, soccer lover turned no-nonsense cop with a wife and two children waiting for her at home - as she stood in front of her own 'live treat' that day. He was a man who had already stabbed and killed six people and injured a further 12, including a nine-month-old girl. 'It might seem like an obvious question, but what was going through your mind when you fired the first shot?' Counsel assisting the coroner Peggy Dwyer SC asked Inspector Scott at the inquest. 'That he was going to kill me,' she said matter-of-factly. 'After you fired the first shot, are you conscious of what happened next?' she was asked. 'It's a peculiar thing. It's very fast, but in my mind it was extremely slow. I knew my first shot had hit him, but - that was because of the jolt of his body, but he continued to come towards me. 'And I also simultaneously was saying, 'Stop, drop it', and fired two further shots because I had not been able to stop the threat with the first one. 'He just turned and started running at me … I know that one hit him, because it sort of made his chest - it sort of slowed him a bit, but I continued to back up because he was advancing really quickly. 'I shot two more times because I didn't stop him straight away and I was trying to stop him, and then he fell to the ground. I actually fell to the ground as well, because I was trying to back up so quickly. 'He actually fell at that point, at the point that I had first told him to stop and drop it. So he actually advanced that far on me at that time'. Inspector Scott said if she hadn't backed up Cauchi would have landed on top of her. 'The way he'd fallen, the knife was actually underneath him, so I couldn't see it, and I knew I needed to secure it. 'I wasn't sure if I had completely incapacitated him enough, but I knew I just had to bite the bullet and essentially make sure that that weapon was secure.' Inspector Scott's third bullet made contact with a large pot plant behind which a woman with a pram had been hiding. Before shooting Cauchi, Inspector Scott had signalled with her hand and 'mouthed to her to run'. Dr Dwyer observed: 'I know you've been commended previously for this, and you don't have to commend yourself, but you effectively directed away the civilian that was standing there with the pram, and if you hadn't done that, she may well have been injured, or a child, by the ricochet?' In keeping with her modest assessment of her own heroics that day, Inspector Scott answered: 'Maybe'. What she was more focused on getting across was her appreciation and admiration for everyone else. 'I wanted to mention my colleagues and my team on the day,' she told the courtroom packed with journalists. I said earlier we ask a lot of young police, and I think we as a society think that police don't feel fear, don't feel the burden and pressures of what everyday humans do, and I can assure you that they do. 'I can assure you on that day that they were fearful running in, and while I was the person that faced Joel, those young officers ran in with the exact same intentions.' Inspector Scott, who returned to work in a matter of weeks, said she wanted to acknowledge the courage and bravery of her colleagues, some who haven't been able to return to work. 'They have my wholehearted support, love and care, and … I hope that the public does understand that they were absolutely extraordinary.' 'They saved lives on that day. We did unfortunately lose the lives of six beautiful people but they saved lives and they put themselves at risk. 'And contrary to how well people think we are trained, we still feel fear, but they still went in there, so I want to acknowledge them in that space.'
The Guardian
23-05-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Flawed information about potential second offender saw paramedics barred from Bondi Junction Westfield, inquest hears
Confusion and flawed information about a potential second offender led to paramedics being barred from entering Bondi Junction Westfield, an inquest into last year's fatal stabbing has heard. Joel Cauchi was experiencing psychotic symptoms when he went on a stabbing spree at the Sydney shopping complex on 13 April 2024. The 40-year-old killed six people and injured 10 others before he was shot dead by the New South Wales police officer Amy Scott. Confusion and miscommunication about a potential second offender led the NSW Ambulance assistant commissioner, Brent Armitage, to declare the mall a 'hot zone' at about 4.30pm. This meant paramedics were barred from entering the complex. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Armitage was acting on flawed information that was not provided in a timely manner, a NSW Ambulance medical executive told the Bondi stabbings inquest on Friday. 'It does represent a near miss and is therefore an important learning opportunity,' Dr Thomas Evens said. All victims had already been removed from the mall so the declaration did not affect any medical outcomes. But Evens and other emergency doctors on an expert panel said miscommunication between providers can delay victims' care. The panel put forward a framework developed in the UK called JESIP, focusing on how emergency providers can best work together to respond to emergencies. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion They were careful to acknowledge their suggestions were made in hindsight and their report included critiques, not criticism. While describing the 'exceptionally high standard' of care, physician Philip Cowburn called the zoning system a dogmatic approach. 'The zones are always too big, they are left in place for too long and patients come into harm as a result,' he said. All emergency service providers should be trained in the '10 Second Triage' system, where they can quickly identify patients who need support in a rapidly unfolding incident, the panel said. The inquest continues.
The Guardian
22-05-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Bondi Junction inquest told most people with treatment-resistant schizophrenia relapse without medication
About 90% of people who have treatment-resistant schizophrenia and discontinue their antipsychotic medication relapse after two years, a coronial inquest has heard amid a probe into the mental health and care of Joel Cauchi. The inquest, scheduled for five weeks, is examining the fatal stabbing of six people by Cauchi at Westfield Bondi Junction in April 2024. Cauchi, then 40, killed Ashlee Good, 38, Jade Young, 47, Yixuan Cheng, 27, Pikria Darchia, 55, Dawn Singleton, 25, and Faraz Tahir, 30, and injured 10 others at the shopping centre on 13 April last year before he was shot and killed by police officer Amy Scott. At the time, Cauchi was not medicated for his schizophrenia, the coroners court has heard. He had been weaned off medication by a psychiatrist and was meant to be monitored, but wasn't. On Thursday, the inquest heard from a panel of psychiatrists who provided expert opinions on the care and treatment of Cauchi. The court heard that Clozapine – which can have severe side effects – was generally considered a life-long medication for people with treatment-resistant schizophrenia due to a high relapse rate of 77% after one year and 90% after two years for those who stopped taking it. Psychiatrist Prof Olav Nielssen told the court that homicide of strangers by people with schizophrenia was rare, with one occurring in New South Wales about every two years. He said a 'feature of that small group' was having gone off medication and homelessness. Cauchi was unmedicated and homeless at the time of the Bondi Junction stabbings. Prof Merete Nordentoft, a psychiatrist in Denmark, told the Sydney court: 'Most people with schizophrenia will never commit an act of serious violence, but a disproportionate number of homicides are committed by people with psychotic illness.' Those who do harm others, Nordentoft said, usually had delusions including thinking they were 'being followed and somebody is trying to harm you, and therefore you need to protect yourself'. Sign up to Morning Mail Our Australian morning briefing breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion She said in Copenhagen there were clinics that supported patients who wanted to come off anti-psychotic medication. The patients had weekly monitoring for 18 months. But, the psychiatrist told the court, most people found they couldn't completely end their medication. 'The patients actually get a higher level of acceptance that this treatment is needed,' she said, noting the process had a silver lining.
Scottish Sun
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
Miss Scotland, 25, looks sensational in green bikini as stunning redhead reveals gruelling 5am routine for contest
The 72nd Miss World Grand Finale is set to take place on May 31 OUT OF THIS WORLD OUT OF THIS WORLD Miss Scotland, 25, looks sensational in green bikini as stunning redhead reveals gruelling 5am routine for contest Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) REIGNING Miss Scotland winner Amy Scott looked sensational in a green bikini as she prepares for a huge contest this month. The 25-year-old is currently in India to represent Scotland at Miss World. Sign up for the Entertainment newsletter Sign up 4 Miss Scotland Amy Scott posed during a dip in the pool Credit: Instagram 4 The 25-year-old is currently in India for the Miss World competition Credit: Instagram 4 She joined other contestants as they relaxed by the pool Credit: Instagram Amy, from Strathaven in South Lanarkshire, took to Instagram to share some pictures from her trip. She posed for the camera during a dip in a swimming pool. In the sizzling snaps, the redhead had her wet hair swept back and donned a pair of tortoise shell sunglasses. And she wore a stunning dark green bikini. In another photo, the Scot posed up alongside Miss Gibraltar, Miss Wales, Miss Northern Ireland and Miss Greece. The caption read: "European pool party. Can you tell we love it here? "You can find me at the pool." The 72nd Miss World Grand Finale is set to take place on May 31 at the Exhibition Centre in Hyderabad, in the Indian state of Telangana. A total of 108 nations will gather under one roof for a night of "elegance, unity, and purpose". The Miss World competition has had a major revamp since it started in 1951, with the swimwear contest ditched in 2024 for a fitness competition. Love Island's Kaz Crossley sizzles in tiny bikini as she gets soaked in the rain on holiday in Thailand There is now more emphasis placed on contestants' charitable efforts. Amy previously revealed her gruelling routine for the upcoming contest to the Sunday Post. She had been taking lessons early in the morning to nail down the "Miss World walk". Amy said: "I have a coach in the Philippines and because of the time difference, I take lessons at 5am. "I've always loved wearing heels but with this style of walking I'm a bit like Bambi on ice, especially in an evening gown. "My coach kindly pointed out that my technique 'needs a little work'. "It's all part of the fun, and I'm learning to embrace every step along the way." Amy was crowned Miss Scotland in August last year.
Daily Record
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Media and TV students helped Miss Scotland film Miss World video entry
The students from Glasgow Clyde College teamed up with Amy Scott. Reigning Miss Scotland, Amy Scott, got some help from Glasgow Clyde College students who produced her video entry for the 2025 Miss World competition. The media and TV team youngsters across Scotland with her filming content for the global championships which is due to be broadcast in over 120 countries this month. And the students gained real world-filming experience on two shoots in a variety of iconic Scottish landmarks, developing key skills for their future careers in the creative industry including filming, lighting and audio. Amy reached out the college looking for assistance with the video aspects of her Miss World entry, including creating a contestant introduction video and a documentary. Five young media and TV students – Archie Gudaitis, Lauren Rooney, Eilidh MacCuish, Heather Allan and Niamh Hannon – were selected to support Amy's goal of global glory in India this month. The prestigious annual competition runs from May 7 to 31 in Hyderabad with the videos from Glasgow Clyde College students set to receive national and international exposure if Amy ranks amongst the top contestants For the introduction video, the team of college students put their skills to the test and travelled around the country with Amy filming in iconic Scottish landmarks including Glencoe, St Andrew's and the Falkirk Wheel to showcase the nation's beauty. The documentary saw the students focus in on the charity aspect of Miss World, filming interviews and highlighting Amy's work with Multiple Sclerosis charities such as MS Society and Revive MS. Fred Hannah, curriculum manager for Media and TV Production at Glasgow Clyde College, said: 'This project provided our talented students with professional opportunities while supporting Amy's journey to the international stage. 'The students gained real life experience on planning and attending shoots alongside developing their post-production skills to produce content that has the potential to be seen by millions of people. 'We are so excited to see the reaction to the student's excellent visual storytelling and wish Amy success as she represents Scotland at the Miss World competition in India.' A grateful Amy said: 'Working with the students from Glasgow Clyde College has been one of the most memorable parts of my Miss World journey so far. 'Archie, Eilidh, Heather, Lauren and Niamh were all incredible and brought such energy and professionalism to both shoots. 'They really understood the heart behind both films — showcasing Scotland and sharing my passion for raising awareness about Multiple Sclerosis — and they brought those ideas to life with real creativity and care. 'The fact that their work might soon be seen by millions, even over a billion people worldwide, says everything. Scotland's future storytellers are more than ready for the global stage.' Glasgow Clyde College currently offers two TV courses with HND Digital Film and Television and NQ Digital Film and Television both offering a real career path in the Creative Industries. *Don't miss the latest headlines from around Lanarkshire. Sign up to our newsletters here.
