MAKING OF A MONSTER

THE KILLING OF INNOCENT SHOPPERS APPALLED THE WORLD, SO WHAT CAME BEFORE THE SHOCKING MASS MURDER?

- TERTIUS PICKARD

Like many across the nation on April 13, Andrew and Michele Cauchi watched on in horror as the news unfolded on TV and social media about a man roaming through busy Westfield Bondi Junction with a large knife.

The killer murdered six people and injured 12 others, including a nine-month-old baby, before NSW Police Inspector Amy Scott shot him dead.

Mothers Ashlee Good and Jade Young, security guard Faraz Tahir, student Yixuan Cheng, Pikria Darchia and Dawn Singleton, the daughter of entrepreneur John "Singo" Singleton, all lost their lives in the attack.

Seeing CCTV footage of the killer stalking the complex in a green and gold Kangaroos jersey, a devastating realisation dawned upon the Cauchis.

"My wife said, "This looks like Joel' when you saw him on the stairway with his head down, and I said it might look like Joel, but I'm not going to say it's Joel," a visibly shaken Andrew, 76, told reporters on April 15.

"The police then knocked on my door that night to tell us they believe this is Joel, and I said, 'You don't have to believe it. You can know it.""