Bondi attack.

How do you know the country has been ‘infiltrated’ Karmalady?
I thought at this stage they hadn’t said who he was or where, if anywhere, he was from just that he was a 40 years old male and known to the police

So awful. Those poor people and their families.

karmalady

very brave people involved, including the ones who ran behind the woman police officer and the man with a pole on the escalator, confronting the knifeman. Seems as though many countries are being infiltrated by people who have very violent tendencies

How do you know that this man wasn't a non-infiltrating Australian? I didn't think he'd been officially named yet.

Snap Bluebelle (Sorry, I hadn't seen your post.)

He was a schizophrenic man. The help for people with mental health issues is very poor here. He was showing signs of weirdness before this incident but of course no one intervened.

Nanna8 then if that’s the real story and not a supposition it is what I thought it could be
Mental health is such a complex issue The help here is not as it should be either, far too little money spent on it, far too few beds, far too many people needing help
I have a friend also schizophrenic the nicest person you could meet but when her meds stopped helping her recently she was lying in the street howling like an animal she’s now on new medication and after 6 months in a hospital she is back to her old self

The man was probable seeing images and had no idea he was hurting real people
So terribly sad all round

In the early 1960's, I was 17 years old and walking home from work when I saw a lady walking on the pavement and a man running up behind her and start stabbing her in the back. A lot of people rushed to help her and the man was arrested. I have no idea if she lived or died because in those days we only had newspapers and the basic tv news so I had no idea what happened after.

It proves there was, is and always will be violence but in this era it is escalating to the point that thugs are killing and trying to kill people they do not even know.

Only a few weeks ago I was in town and there were a few mentally handicapped people being taken out by their care home helpers. As I was walking along the pavement, a man, who was with his carer, threw out his arm and grabbed me by the throat and would not let go. His carer was struggling to make him let go but he just hung on to my throat tightly. It took two more carers to rush to help us and to unclench his hand from around my throat. They just apologised and I left it at that but when I look back, this man could have really hurt me and I wondered later if I should have reported the incident to the police but by then it was too late.

The main problem was that each mental patient only had one carer with them and the other two carers had to leave their patients to help me.

I had a red mark around my throat the day after but no pain. It all happened so fast that I never saw it coming and that is how easy it is for someone walking past to inflict an injury on you.

www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/04/13/five-killed-sydney-bondi-shopping-centre-stabbing-live-baby/
The man who killed six people at a Sydney shopping centre was known to be suffering with mental health issues and have a fascination with weapons.

Police on Sunday identified the attacker as Joel Cauchi, a 40-year-old who had recently moved from Queensland to Sydney where he had been homeless.

Cauchi had lived with schizophrenia and had used drugs including methamphetamine and psychedelics, investigators believe. He did not have a criminal history in his home state but had been known to authorities because of his struggle

Schizophrenia has been known about as a treatable medical condition for many years. It is time the world recognised this and other mental health illnesses and learned how to deal with them.

Many mental health conditions are treatable as you say ronib but one of the problems is ensuring that the patient continues to take their medication/treatment. There are not enough staff or facilities for this.

sodapop that is for Australia to resolve.

I think you should have reported that very frightening incident R Sue, what would have happened if that were a child.
How dreadful for all those who lost their lives in Australia, my sympathies are with the victims and families, if it is true and it’s down to lack of mental health care, it's no good dishing out medication when the patient does not take it. It sounds as if it’s as bad there as here regarding care in the community.
The bravery of others and that policewoman is fantastic. There’s more good than bad.

Allsorts how do you know that medication was dished out and not taken?
If I was a member of a family killed in the shopping mall, I imagine my anger and grief would not allow me to stay silent. Something needs to change.

This is absolutely tragic and sadly, it can happen anywhere. Mental health issues are virtually impossible to police effectively. There are probably hundreds of thousands of people undiagnosed, and as many diagnosed but who don't persevere with treatment. Do we revert back to institutionalising sufferers? This is surely not the answer, neither would it help with those who are undiagnosed.

I've not stopped thinking about the horror, the fear and finally the loss of all those involved since I saw it on the news yesterday. Absolutely heart-breaking.

I don't know much about mental disorders, but I was stuck by the comment that one minute he was walking round the retail centre quite normally, then went off for 30 minutes (?) and came back deranged with the knife. So, if someone's state of mind flips that quickly, no none stands a chance.

*struck

Joseann sounds like a psychotic attack and very frightening for the sufferer too.

My friend's son suddenly became convinced that people were trying to kill his parents and that he had to protect them by killing passers by. He was absolutely convinced this was true and couldn't be talked out of it. Luckily, he didn't manage to hurt anyone. In hospital it was found to be a psychotic episode triggered by some doctored cannabis.

It was also said that he wished he had a girlfriend but couldn’t get one, hence the stabbing of women. The only male victim was the security guard who tried to stop him. I sometimes wonder whether there should be more emphasis in school of real life situations and helpfulness, such as forming friendships and relationships, getting along with work colleagues. Rather more helpful to some than geography for example. You hear of so many people these days unable to form social relationships. With so many people focused on their phones all the time and not actually interacting when they’re out and about it’s not surprising.

Please don't imagine that all schizophrenics are violent, my daughter has this problem and always takes medication. She's never been violent towards anybody although her life is chaotic and she is classified as vulnerable.

My heart goes out to the victim’s loved ones and also the family of the perpetrator. I also feel for the attacker. He was schizophrenic so imagine his own fear and terror trying to make his way through life and wondering when another episode will appear that he has absolutely no control over. As he was homeless he probably didn’t have a GP or mental health team to organise medication for him. No wonder he turned to drugs as many homeless people do to block out the scary, horrendous reality of their lives. Such a sad situation all round.

Yes just one mentally challenged attacker

And how terrifying for the city to now have another stabbing at a church there.

ronib

Schizophrenia has been known about as a treatable medical condition for many years. It is time the world recognised this and other mental health illnesses and learned how to deal with them.

The problem is when/if they stop taking the medication. They cannot be forced to and according to his parents he had stopped. We have had several cases in this country in the past where someone has been stabbed to death by a schizophreniac who stopped taking their medication.