Rachell Corbett: Emotional moment Project host sums up how every Australian mum is feeling about the Westfield Bondi Junction stabbing massacre and 9-month old baby now fighting for life
A host of The Project, who recently gave birth to her first child, broke down in tears while discussing the horrific stabbing death at a Sydney shopping centre.
Joel Cauchi, 40, killed six people and injured a further 12 people when he stormed Westfield Bondi Junction on Saturday afternoon armed with a 30cm hunting knife. He was eventually shot dead by a police officer.
The victims included osteopath Ashlee Good, 38, and her nine-month-old baby. Dr. Good sadly died when she arrived at the hospital and her daughter remains in intensive care.
Rachell Corbett, speaking during Sunday’s episode, was overcome with emotion and said: “It’s so hard to do shows on nights like this.”
“Never in this country do we go to the store and think something like this could happen,” she said.
‘You feel 100 percent safe when you wander through a shopping center.
“I just can’t stop thinking about that poor poor baby and the father who now doesn’t have his partner… It’s just so hard.”
Rachell Corbett, who recently gave birth to her first child, broke down in tears while discussing the stabbing at a Sydney shopping centre.
Ms Corbett (pictured while pregnant) took time off from the show last year to give birth to her first child, who she is raising as a single parent
Ms Corbett briefly left The Project panel last year to give birth to her first child and revealed she will be raising her daughter as a single mother.
The show’s other presenters also expressed their sadness over the incident which Sarah Harris described as ‘an hour of madness’.
Dr. Good is believed to have been one of the first to be attacked in the horrific incident that shocked Australia and the world.
The mother desperately handed her daughter over to a stranger as she and her child were stabbed.
The man who took the child and his brother then used used clothes from a store to stop the baby’s bleeding.
“The baby was stabbed and, yes, the mother was stabbed,” the man told 9News.
‘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,” the other brother said.
Ms Good’s family said in a statement that they are “reeling from the terrible loss of Ashlee” and remembered her as “a beautiful mother, daughter, sister, partner, friend, an extraordinary human being and so much more.”
“We appreciate the wishes and thoughts of members of the Australian public who have expressed their love for Ashlee and our little girl,” the statement read.
“We are so grateful for the expert care and attention from the medical team at Sydney Children’s Hospital.
‘We would also like to thank the New South Wales Police for their kindness and dedication to this tragedy and the emergency services for getting our baby the care she needed as quickly as possible.
“To the two men who held and cared for our baby when Ashlee couldn’t, words cannot express our gratitude.”
Ashlee Good (pictured) desperately gave her daughter to a stranger as she and her child were stabbed.
Cauchi (pictured during the attack) killed six customers and injured several more, including Ms Good’s child, before being shot dead by a police officer
Four other victims of the attack have now been identified: advertising heiress Dawn Singleton, 25, security guard Faraz Tahir, 30, mother-of-two and architect Jade Young, 47, and artist Pikria Darchia, 55.
Daily Mail Australia understands Saturday was Mr Tahir’s first week on the job but he fought heroically to protect shoppers from Cauchi’s rampage.
He had emigrated to Australia last year after fleeing persecution from Pakistan and is just one of many who have been hailed as heroes by Aussies for their efforts during the incident.
They include the police officer who shot and killed Cauchi, Inspector Amy Scott, a man who stopped the killer with a bollard, Damien Guerot, and lifeguard Andrew Reid who provided first aid to the injured.
Co-host Hamish MacDonald added: ‘in that short space of time we saw the worst of what society is capable of, but also the best’.