Westfield Bondi Junction: They were hailed as heroes after snatching Ash Good’s stabbed baby to safety. But one week later, brothers Joe and Rick are struggling to deal with the horrific carnage they witnessed
EXCLUSIVE
The heroic brothers who saved the nine-month-old girl stabbed during the Westfield Bondi Junction massacre are struggling to cope with the aftermath of the horrors.
Brothers Joe and Rick Tomarchio were at the shopping center in Sydney’s eastern suburbs last Saturday when madman Joel Cauchi, 40, killed six and injured a dozen others.
Mortally injured new mother Dr. Ashlee Good, 38, threw her daughter Harriet into Joe’s hands in an attempt to save the toddler’s life after Cauchi stabbed them both during his frenzied attack.
The brothers rushed the mother and daughter to a nearby store where they tried to stem their blood loss as the massacres continued at the mall.
Minutes later they were hailed as heroes after their bravery was captured on camera as they left the mall shaken by the horrific events, but they have since retreated from the public eye and shunned the spotlight.
Brothers Rick (left) and Joe Tomarchio (right) helped save the life of a nine-month-old baby during the Bondi massacre on Saturday
The baby’s mother, Ashlee Good (pictured) is one of six people killed in the brutal attack
Sal Tomarchio said his sons were “a little upset” after the tragic event last weekend
Now a friend has told Daily Mail Australia how the couple have been hit hard by the tragedy as they deal with their own grief over the carnage they witnessed.
‘He [Rick] is very shocked,” said a friend who did not want to be named. “They’re both not doing well.”
On Friday, their parents, Salvatore ‘Sal’ Tomarchio and his wife Mary, broke their silence outside the family home in Glenfield, in Sydney’s south-west.
They said the traumatized brothers are still coming to terms with the shocking scenes at the blood-soaked mall.
“They’ve done a great thing to help people,” Sal said. “They’re just a little upset, you know.”
Mary added, “They will speak when they are ready.”
On Friday, Joe bunkered down behind closed doors and drew the curtains on his clifftop mansion in Sydney’s posh eastern suburbs.
According to a friend, he is still closely linked to his Campbelltown roots, despite now living near stars such as David and Candice Warner and Guy Sebastian.
He was hailed as a hero on Saturday after carrying the seriously injured child to a Tommy Hilfiger store and using the store’s clothing to compress their wounds.
Mary Tomarchio said her sons will speak out ‘when they are ready’
Joe Tomarchio has hit the ground running in the aftermath of the horrific Westfield Bondi Junction attack he witnessed first-hand
Their moving story of how a terribly injured Dr. Good passed the baby to Rick became one of the first stories about the incident.
The brothers spoke to a TV news reporter at the scene moments after they were evacuated from the mall.
As shoppers were evacuated from Westfield, a witness interrupted a Nine News reporter conducting a live crusade on the street and pointed to one of the brothers and said: ‘He’s a hero – he saved the baby.’
Clearly shaken, Rick Tomarchio recalled using clothes from a store to try to stop the baby’s bleeding.
“The baby was stabbed and, yes, the mother was stabbed,” Rick said.
‘The mother came to me with the baby and threw him at me.
“I just helped by holding the baby… and trying to compress the baby.”
The brothers stayed with the mother and called emergency services.
“(It was) really bad… a lot of blood on the floor… I hope the baby is okay,” Joe Tomarchio said.
Despite their efforts, Dr Good, an osteopath, died later that evening after being rushed to hospital.
Her little girl underwent emergency surgery due to serious injuries but has since improved and is now leaving intensive care in a stable condition.
Joel Cauchi from Queensland is pictured with a 30cm hunting knife on the escalator at Westfield shopping center at Bondi Junction on Saturday afternoon
Pictured: The Tommy Hilfiger store in Bondi Junction where workers fought to save the life of a nine-month-old girl
On Thursday, Daily Mail Australia revealed that this is the second time Joe has come to the aid of a member of the public.
He was publicly praised in 2010 when he stopped to help an elderly woman who had fallen and broken her head on the road in the city’s CBD.
The banker held the elderly woman’s head up and called on other bystanders to help him as they waited for an ambulance to arrive.
‘It was automatic. I knew someone had to take control of the situation,” Mr. Tomarchio said at the time.
“I took her hand and told her everything was going to be okay.
‘I then asked where she worked, tried to keep her talking and really made her feel comfortable, and then enlisted the help of the local construction workers.’
Mr Tomarchio, who was walking to work when he witnessed the woman’s fall, said he was surprised no one else stopped to help as she lay in the road during rush hour.
The woman’s daughter called him a hero for saving the woman’s life, saying she initially thought her mother was dead.
“Joe was the star. The way he stayed so calm and just held her hand, I can’t thank him enough,” she added.