Alexandra Smith
Drinking a coffee at a cafe on the fourth floor of Bondi Junction’s Westfield shopping centre, Catherine Molihan was oblivious to the horror unfolding around her until the screams rang out.
Like so many shocked shoppers on April 13, 2024, Molihan – a highly experienced nurse – ran for her life and initially sheltered in a shop. The store manager locked the doors to keep her and others safe, but it quickly became clear that outside the shuttered luggage shop, there were mass casualties.
Molihan insisted the manager let her out, despite his protestations. She saw two badly injured men. One sitting on a chair, the other lying on the ground. Both had stomach wounds.
“I said to the manager ‘I’m a nurse, ICU trained and I want to help’,” Molihan said.
The men had been stabbed by Joel Cauchi, a mentally ill man who went on a rampage through the eastern suburbs shopping centre wielding a knife. The casualties Molihan found were security guard Muhammad Taha and his colleague Faraz Tahir. She quickly realised Tahir was critically injured.
“Faraz was very critically unwell. The police officers who came were amazing, and I held just his head and patted his beard and I told him he would be OK,” Molihan said, choking back tears.
Tahir, a Pakistani citizen who had fled religious persecution in his home country, died at the scene.
Monday is the second anniversary of the Bondi Junction attack. To mark the occasion, Molihan will receive a commendation for brave conduct as part of a special Australian Bravery Decorations honours list alongside Noel McLaughlin, whose wife Jade Young died in the attack.
Six others, including NSW Police Inspector Amy Scott, will be given the higher honour of a bravery medal for their roles in the stabbing massacre, which left six people dead.
Also killed were Ashlee Good, Pikria Darchia, Yixuan Cheng and Dawn Singleton.
The awards, recommended by the independent Australian Bravery Decorations Council, include two posthumous medals for Good and Tahir, who died trying to save the lives of others. Despite her horrific injuries, Good, 38, managed to thrust her injured infant daughter Harriet into the arms of two male shoppers before she died.
Scott, who was honoured with the Commissioner’s Valour Award “for displaying exceptional bravery in a life-threatening situation” at a police graduation ceremony in June 2024, has been labelled a hero and credited with saving lives after she pursued Cauchi through the shopping centre.
The senior officer was alone when she faced the attacker minutes after his rampage began. She raised her pistol and, as Cauchi charged towards her, shot him dead, preventing the further loss of life, including her own. Scott is now facing her own battle after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
French nationals Damien Guerot and Silas Despreaux will also receive bravery medals. Wielding bollards, the men confronted Cauchi as he ran through the shopping centre. Footage of the construction workers coming face to face with the attacker atop an escalator during his killing spree became a defining image of the unprovoked attack.
Governor-General Sam Mostyn said all eight honoured were “characterised by their selfless, courageous, and determined response in unspeakable and horrific circumstances”.
“Every one of them showed strength, and profound courage, as they placed the safety of others above their own, demonstrating ultimate care for others,” Mostyn said.
“Their acts of bravery reflect the best of us, and remind us of the valour, compassion and service that are enduring and present across our communities.
“We also pay tribute to the 12 people injured, for their recovery and wellbeing, and all those whose lives were changed forever by the violence they witnessed on that terrible day.”
