They went to the shops. They never came home.
It was April 13, 2024. Exactly one year ago today.
At 3.10pm, a man walked into the Westfield Shopping Centre at Bondi Junction with a knife.
THE VICTIMS & THE HERO
By 3.20pm he had murdered young professional Dawn Singleton. She was there to buy items for her wedding.
Dr Ashlee Good was killed. She died saving her infant daughter.
Architect Jade Young was murdered – her nine-year-old daughter was with her at the shops.
Artist Pikria Darchia was killed 10 minutes after speaking to her son on the phone.
Student Yixuan Cheng was murdered two minutes after she spoke to her fiancé.
Security guard Faraz Tahir tried to save lives. The man murdered him.
The man injured 12 others.
Detective Inspector Amy Scott was on general duties that day. She fired the bullet that killed the femicide terrorist.
THIS WAS TERRORISM & FEMICIDE
This man targeted women – perhaps because he thought it would be easier to kill women than men or perhaps because he hated women. An inquest starting later this month will hopefully shed some light on the why.
The Bondi Junction massacre was a deliberate act of femicide. The media and authorities refuse to call it this – they refuse to call it male terrorism.
THE DAY I WILL NEVER FORGET
That day I watched the femicide massacre unfold in the newsroom, I saw photos and footage I will never forget.
I was also trying my best to document these lives ethically and with a trauma-focused lens, aiming to bring you the stories of these women without the media clickbait.
In my 10 years documenting femicides, April 13, 2024 was the worst.
WOMEN ARE NOT SAFE
I hope we never see a mass femicide again. I hope we never see another woman killed.
But I know this is not reality – we are not safe in out homes, our workplaces or our streets.
We are not even safe at the shopping centre.
femicide #womenssafety #violenceagainstwomen #maleviolence #SheMatters
HOW YOU CAN SUPPORT MY WORK
I need your support to continue telling stories like Colleen’s and to keep documenting murdered women and children. Please buy a RED HEART t-shirt or consider donating to Australian Femicide Watch. 100% of money raised funds The RED HEART Campaign and Australian Femicide Watch.