The man who carried out a stabbing spree in a Sydney shopping centre was “angry he couldn’t get a girlfriend”, his parents have said.
Joel Cauchi, 40, roamed through the busy Westfield Bondi Junction on Saturday with a large knife, killing six people and injuring 12 others, including a nine-month old baby.
His father Andrew Cauchi, 76, said he was “extremely sorry” to the victims and his son was a “very sick boy” who was frustrated.
“He’s my son. And I’m loving a monster - to you, he’s a monster. To me, he was a very sick boy. He wanted a girlfriend and he has no social skills and he was frustrated out of his brain,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Australian police said a knife attack on an Assyrian church bishop and some followers in western Sydney suburb was a terrorist act motivated by suspected religious extremism.
“We believe there are elements that are satisfied in terms of religious motivated extremism,” New South Wales state Police Commissioner Karen Webb said. “After consideration of all the material, I declared that it was a terrorist incident.”
The incident triggered clashes between police and an angry crowd who demanded 16-year-old attacker be handed over to them.
