A Sky News reporter has fought back tears as he remembers a mother who was stabbed to death along with five others in a horrific, random attack.
Laura Jayes, 40, was visibly distraught during her living cross from Bondi Junction’s Westfield, in Sydney’s east, while reporting on the death of beloved osteopath Ash Good, 38.
Dr Good was among six innocent shoppers fatally stabbed by a knife-wielding 40-year-old man in the busy shopping center on Saturday afternoon in an attack that has shocked the nation.
Dr Good’s nine-month-old baby was also stabbed and remains in hospital after undergoing surgery.
The mother had desperately handed her baby to a passerby in an attempt to save her.
Jayes said that while he did not know the other five victims, he did know Dr Good, who was a “beautiful woman” in the prime of her life.
Laura Jayes, 40, collapsed during her live crossing from Bondi Junction’s Westfield, in Sydney’s east, while reporting on the death of beloved osteopath Ash Good, 38.
Ash Good, 38, and her daughter were stabbed by a knife in Bondi Junction on Saturday. Dr. Good could not be saved while her baby remains in the hospital
“She has a beautiful circle of friends, she was an incredible athlete and she had the world at her feet,” Jayes, whose eyes appeared red, told host Peter Stefanovic.
Dr. Good succumbed to her injuries at the hospital Saturday night.
“His family is rushing here now, so a lot of family and friends wanted to be at the hospital this afternoon, they had to take turns going in and out of the waiting room,” said Jayes, a mother of two. .
‘Both of them (Dr Good and her son) underwent surgery, her husband didn’t know if either of them had survived and now they are getting the worst possible news.
‘I just can’t understand it. It’s so cruel.’
Jayes added that Dr Good was an “incredibly intelligent” woman whose life was “uprooted” in a matter of seconds.
The mall nightmare came to an end when a lone policewoman tracked him down and shot him dead on the fifth level of the complex.
Dr. Good’s baby had surgery Saturday night and remains in the hospital.
Dr. Good and her baby were reportedly among the first victims of the attack, prompting others to immediately come to their aid.
She desperately threw her baby towards a stranger in an attempt to save her, who then used clothes from a nearby store to try to stop her bleeding.
Jayes struggled to understand how a new mother would be in a position to hand over her newborn to someone she didn’t know.
“If you have a new baby… you are with that baby all the time and for her… I can’t imagine she needs to give up the most precious thing in her life,” the journalist said.
“It’s hard to know what to say in these circumstances because you want to convey it and do justice to her life and you want her baby to know one day how amazing her mother was, but at the same time I don’t want to betray the mother.” trust and privacy of her family right now, but I can’t even imagine what they’re going through.”
A passerby who grabbed Dr. Good’s baby said he saw that both mother and baby had been stabbed.
“The mother came with the baby and threw it at me,” the man told Nine News.
“I just helped by holding the baby… and trying to compress him.”
The man and his brother stayed with the mother and called emergency services.
“(It was) very bad… a lot of blood on the floor… I hope the baby is okay,” the other brother said.
The attacker, 40, was shot dead by a lone policewoman on the fifth level of the shopping complex.
Dr. Good had recently married and Jayes said she was an “incredible athlete” with many friends.
Dr Good was in the “prime of her life” when she was fatally stabbed.
Just hours before the horror unfolded, Dr. Good posted a photo on Instagram holding her baby.
The photo was compared to another image from when she was pregnant.
“Only because I was walking by and happened to be wearing the same thing 9 months ago vs 9 months later, etc., etc.,” the caption read.
Eight people are still fighting for their lives in hospital after the attack.
NSW Police believe the man was acting alone and was known to police.
There is no ongoing risk to the community.