NSW critical care paramedic Christopher Wilkinson at Lidcombe coroners court on Wednesday for the Bondi Junction stabbing attack inquest. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAPView image in fullscreenNSW critical care paramedic Christopher Wilkinson at Lidcombe coroners court on Wednesday for the Bondi Junction stabbing attack inquest. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAPBondi Junction stabbingsParamedic denied access to Bondi Junction ‘hot zone’ tells stabbing inquest policies ‘need to change’Critical care paramedic Christopher Wilkinson arrived at Westfield 30 minutes after Joel Cauchi attacked 16 people, killing six
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Daisy DumasWed 30 Apr 2025 03.15 BSTLast modified on Wed 30 Apr 2025 04.14 BSTShareA New South Wales ambulance officer who attempted to save the lives of Bondi Junction stabbing victims on 13 April 2024 says he was “frustrated” after not being able to access injured and potentially dying patients.Six people were stabbed to death by schizophrenic man Joel Cauchi at the Westfield shopping centre.Critical care paramedic Christopher Wilkinson on Wednesday told the inquest into their deaths that he arrived on the scene at 4.03pm that Saturday.Cauchi, 40, killed Ashlee Good, 38, Jade Young, 47, Yixuan Cheng, 27, Pikria Darchia, 55, Dawn Singleton, 25, and Faraz Tahir, 30. He injured 10 others during his stabbing spree that started about 3.33pm and ended when he was shot and killed by police inspector Amy Scott at 3.38pm.Police officer who killed Bondi Junction stabber had ‘resigned myself to the fact that I was probably going to die’Read moreWilkinson travelled to Bondi Junction from Bankstown in a critical care ambulance equipped with blood, plasma and a surgical pack that allowed multiple surgeries on the scene. They could anaesthetise, intubate and put people on ventilators.“We were on scene only a short period of time … when a paramedic came down to us and said they had a baby who needed help,” he said on day three of the coronial inquest.
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The paramedic told the court he provided specialist equipment for the baby, then went back to the triage station he had set up.“I was tapped on the shoulder by a man who was covered in blood,” Wilkinson told the court. He said the man was a doctor who told him another man urgently needed care and “he thought he was going to pass away”.A CareFlight medical team was sent to take care of the patient. Wilkinson and other paramedics were not given access to the Westfield.At 4.15pm, security guard Tahir was brought out on a stretcher. Wilkinson was immediately “tied up with trying to treat him”.They conducted surgery but Tahir was declared dead at 4.24pm. “The family can rest assured that we did everything possible to save his life,” the paramedic told the court.A woman in her early 20s with a stab wound in her chest was then brought out.“She was not pale, she was able to talk in sentences,” he said. She did not require the need of a medical team and was sent to hospital.Another woman who was stabbed in the upper right part of her back was next. She was able to talk in sentences, did not have a high heart rate and was transported to hospital, Wilkinson told the inquest, which is scheduled to run for five weeks. He did not see another patient.“I was left standing there wondering whether there were any other patients like Mr Tahir to be treated.”Wilkinson was told there was a “hot zone” established before Tahir was brought outside.skip past newsletter promotionSign up to Afternoon Update: Election 2025Free daily newsletterOur Australian afternoon update breaks down the key election campaign stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it mattersEnter your email address Sign upPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotionBut the zone was not officially declared until 4.28pm. He was told the hot zone was put in place after concerns were raised that there could be a second offender at large inside the shopping centre.Wilkinson understood it was an “active situation” with the hot zone designation preventing paramedics from entering the Westfield, the court heard on Wednesday.“I was trying to understand why people weren’t coming out or we weren’t allowed in,” he said. “I felt there was quite a long time involved in decision making for either paramedics to go in or paramedics to go out.”Wilkinson was highly experienced in active armed offender situations, he told the court, including in the case of fugitive Malcolm Naden.He said it took “far too long” for the paramedics at Bondi Junction to be given access to potential patients inside the centre.“Standing around on the outside … and not going in simply because there could be another offender,” he said, was “not good enough”.He said he was frustrated “thinking that people may well be dying upstairs”.He said he would have liked paramedics to have been able to take stretchers inside with a police escort.“If we’re not allowed into that hot zone, there is a delay and sometimes that delay costs lives. I think we need to change the way we do things.”Wilkinson acknowledged that a hot zone was designated with good reason. He told the court the sound of Westfield’s emergency alarm made radio communication and conversation hard on the day.Explore more on these topicsBondi Junction stabbingsNew South WalesCrime - AustraliaSydneyBondinewsShareReuse this content
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