A brave survivor of the Bondi Junction Westfield stabbing has recalled the two chilling words the knifeman said after he plunged his knife into her ribs and narrowly missed her heart.
Liya Barko, 35, was shopping for a volleyball on April 13 when Joel Cauchi stabbed her with a 30cm hunting knife during a rampage that left five women and a security guard dead at the busy shopping center in Sydney’s east.
Ms Barko, who was born in Ukraine, fought for her life in intensive care for 10 days and was released from hospital a week ago.
She recalled how the harrowing ordeal happened so quickly that she didn’t even see Cauchi’s knife.
“I think he just looked at me and decided at that moment, and then I looked at my hands and I was bleeding,” she said Nine news.
After the horrific attack, Cauchi looked at Mr Barko and said: ‘Catch you’ before continuing his killing spree.
Liya Barko (pictured), 35, was shopping for a volleyball on Saturday, April 13, when Joel Cauchi stabbed her with a 12-inch hunting knife in a rampage that left six people dead.
A quick-thinking hero in a green T-shirt then pulled Ms Barko into a store, where he closed the security screen and applied pressure to her wound – almost certainly saving her life.
“When you’re on the ground you’re bleeding, you can see everyone’s facial expressions and some of them were crying, they were scared… for their lives too,” she said as she fought back tears.
Ms Barko is now on a mission to track down the man in the green T-shirt to personally thank him for saving her life.
“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 at that moment,” she said.
One burning question continues to preoccupy her.
“My question is why is it: why was there a schizophrenic man standing outside with a knife taking a normal Saturday afternoon and just making hell out of it?” she asked.
Ms Barko, who moved to Sydney to study 18 months ago, spent 10 days in intensive care where her life hung in the balance.
She remembered waking up to a smiling doctor who filled her with hope.
“He was so happy, I’ve never seen anyone so happy,” Ms Barko said.
She added: “I thought, OK, if I die now, I’ll just destroy his service. So I can’t die now because he’s so happy.’
Ms Barko revealed that after the horrific attack, Cauchi (pictured) looked at her and said: ‘Catch you’ before continuing his killing spree.
Ms Barko, who worked part-time as a cleaner, was only discharged from hospital a week ago.
“By some miracle the knife narrowly missed her heart,” said Spencer Benjamin, who organized a rally GoFundMe page wrote for her.
‘However, the incident resulted in a punctured stomach and liver, three broken ribs and severed arteries and veins.
‘The surgeons fought not only to save her life, but also to prevent permanent neurological damage as her brain was deprived of oxygen for a critical period.’
Lone knifeman Cauchi, 40, murdered six people and stabbed another 12 innocent customers in the terrifying rampage that shocked the world.
His victims were Ash Good, 38, Dawn Singleton, 25, Jade Young, 47, Pikria Darchia, 55, and Yixuan Cheng, 27, and security guard Faraz Tahir, 30.
Ms Barko said she wanted to find the quick-thinking hero in a green T-shirt who pulled her into a store, where he closed the security screen and applied pressure to her wound – almost certainly saving her life.