Bondi stabbing survivor recalls terrifying ordeal
Stabbing survivor Liya Barko has recalled the moment she came face-to-face with Joel Cauchi in Bondi Junction Westfield, while also sharing how she is still physically and mentally recovering from the incident.
The 35-year-old student and cleaner from Ukraine was one of hundreds of shoppers in Bondi Junction Westfield on April 13th, as she entered the shopping centre to purchase a volleyball.
In the middle of her errand, she ran into Joel Cauchi during his stabbing rampage.
“I think he just looked at me and he decided in that moment, and then I looked at my hands and I was bleeding,‘ Ms Barko said to 9News.
Cauchi reportedly spoke to Ms Barko after attacking her, with Ms Barko alleging he said “catch you” before continuing his rampage through the centre.
Another shopper ran to help Ms Barko following her attack: a man in a green shirt who she is still trying to find and express her thanks.
The man dragged Ms Barko to safety inside a store and stemmed the blood flow from her stab wound.
"When you are on the floor, you’re bleeding, you can see everyone’s expression and some of them were crying, they were scared … for their lives also,” she said.
“I would like to see him again, to at least give him a hug, because I don’t know how we would have managed without him in that moment.”
The next thing Ms Barko remembers after being stabbed is waking up in the hospital and seeing the friendly face of her doctor, whose positivity kept her going in difficult times of her healing process.
“I just remember (he had a) just so, so open smile and happy face,” she said. “He was so happy, I have never seen someone really so happy."
“I thought okay, if I die right now, I’ll just destroy his shift. So I can’t die right now because he’s just so happy.”
Like many who were affected by the stabbing, Ms Barko, who has been unable to return to work since the stabbing, still has so many unanswered questions about that fateful day.
“My question is how it happened? Why a schizophrenic man was there outside with a knife making a normal Saturday afternoon, he just turn it into hell?”
Up to eighteen people were stabbed at Bondi Westfield, with five dead on-site and one woman dying later in hospital. Those killed were Faraz Tahir, 30, Ashlee Good, 38, Jade Young, 47, Dawn Singleton, 25, Pikria Dachria, 55 and Yixuan Cheng, 27.
Image credits: Nine / Facebook