The parents of the Westfield Mall perpetrator who fatally stabbed several people have recalled the moment they knew their son was a murderer.
As previously reported, six people lost their lives on Saturday (April 13) after a knifeman identified as Joel Cauchi carried out a deadly attack at Westfield Shopping Centre in Bondi Junction.
The victims were five women named Jade Young, 47, Pikria Darchia, 55, Dawn Singleton, 25, Ashlee Good, 38, and Yixuan Cheng, as well as a 30-year-old male security guard named Faraz Tahir.
Numerous others were also critically injured in the heartbreaking incident, including Good's nine-month-old baby.
Following the shocking events, the 40-year-old suspect's parents, Andrew and Michele Cauchi - who are in their 70s and live in Toowoomba - opened up about their son's behavior prior to the attack.
Five weeks before Joel armed himself with a knife, he sent his mom a video message of Coogee Beach with the caption: "Mom, I just want to show you how beautiful Coogee Beach [is]," according to ABC.
The message offered the concerned parents a sense of relief as they had been desperately trying to make contact with their youngest child. In fact, that same day his worried mom had contacted his bank, asking: "I don't want to know what's in his account. I just want to know my son's still alive. Is he still using his account?"
However, the parents had no idea that their son, who had suffered from schizophrenia for all of his adult life, was teetering on the edge and that the last time they'd get an update was from national television.
Andrew and Michele called the police after realizing that the man on a murderous rampage at the shopping mall was Joel, per News.com.au.
"I walked in, and my wife said, 'It looks like Joel.' I said, 'It does a bit,' but he had his head down," Andrew said. "So I watched and watched and watched."
The Cauchis disclosed that their late son, who graduated from the University of Southern Queensland, decided to stop taking mental health medication after 18 years of treatment.
"When he came off [the medication], it was like it had all lifted from him and he wanted to have a life," his mom said. "After living at home until he was 35, he went to Brisbane, so he wasn’t with his doctor anymore."
The attacker moved between Brisbane, Toowoomba, and the Gold Coast before informing his parents that he lost his Brisbane rental in January 2023.
Andrew picked his son up and allowed him to move back home. But problems soon arose after the father refused to allow Joel to keep his deadly United States Army combat knives in the house.
The dad recalled this devasting moment, sharing: "I said to Joel, 'You can stay here as long as you like, but you are not going to have these in my house.' So I took them off him, knowing that there was going to be pandemonium in my house but I was willing to put up with it."
Joel shockingly called the authorities on his family, alleging that they had stolen his knives before driving to Tweed Heads the following day to purchase himself more.
As police continue to search for a motive behind the horrific killing spree, Joel's distraught parents have apologized for their son’s actions on multiple occasions.
Andrew said he was "heartbroken" and "extremely sorry" for the victims, and told reporters: "He's my son. And I'm loving a monster - to you, he's a monster. To me, he was a very sick boy," per Sky News.
