EXCLUSIVE
A hero who saved the nine-month-old baby stabbed in the Westfield Bondi Junction attack has previously made headlines for his heroism.
Brothers Joe and Rick Tomachio were at the mall Saturday afternoon when Joel Cauchi, 40, a schizophrenic man who had stopped taking his medications, embarked on his killing spree.
After witnessing mother Ashlee Good, 38, and her young daughter Harriet being stabbed, the brothers quickly rushed them to the Tommy Hilfiger store to save their lives, using clothing from the store to compress their wounds.
Their harrowing account of their ordeal became one of the first stories to emerge about the incident as they spoke to a new reporter on the scene moments after they were finally evacuated from the facility.
Now WhatsNew2Day Australia can reveal that Joe, a Sydney banker, was publicly praised in 2010 after he stopped to help an elderly woman who fell and hit her head on the road in the city’s central business district.
Brothers Rick (left) and Joe Tomachio (right) saved the life of a nine-month-old baby during the Bondi massacre on Saturday.
The good Samaritan raised his head and gathered other passersby to help him while they waited for an ambulance to arrive.
‘It was automatic. “I knew someone had to take control of the situation,” Tomachio told the media at the time.
“I grabbed his hand and told him everything was going to be okay…
“Then I asked her where she worked, tried to get her talking and keep her really comfortable, and then I asked local construction workers for help.”
Tomachio, who was walking to work when he saw the woman fall, said he was surprised no one else had stopped to help her while she lay in the road during rush hour traffic.
The woman’s daughter hailed him as a star and said that when she first saw her mother, she thought she was dead.
‘Joe was the star. The way he stayed so calm and just held his hand, I can’t thank you enough,” he said at the time.
The baby’s mother, Ashlee Good (pictured), is one of six people who died in the tragedy.
Pictured: The Tommy Hilfiger store inside Bondi Junction, where workers fought to save the life of a nine-month-old girl.
Joel Cauchi from Queensland is pictured carrying a 30cm hunting knife on the escalator inside the Westfield shopping center in Bondi Junction on Saturday afternoon.
Police were called to Bondi Junction at around 3.20pm on Saturday after Cauchi began rampaging through the shopping center with a hunting knife, leaving hundreds of terrified shoppers fleeing for their lives or taking shelter in shops.
As shoppers left Westfield, a witness interrupted a Nine News reporter carrying out a live cross in the streets and pointed to one of the brothers, saying: “He’s a hero, he saved the baby.”
Clearly shaken, Rick Tomachio recalled how he used clothes from a store to try to stop the baby’s bleeding.
“The baby was stabbed and, yes, the mother was stabbed,” Rick Tomachio said.
“The mother came up with the baby and threw it at me.
“I just helped by holding the baby… and trying to compress him.”
The brothers stayed with the mother and called emergency services.
“(It was) very bad… there was a lot of blood on the floor… I hope the baby is okay,” Joe Tomachio said.
Despite their best efforts, Ms Good later died after being rushed to hospital. Her little girl underwent emergency surgery for critical injuries, but she has miraculously improved in recent days and is now out of the ICU and stable.
In an online post, a family member revealed that the brothers are humble and would be surprised by the fame they have gained.
‘It was automatic. I knew someone had to take control of the situation,” Tomachio told the media in 2010 after helping a woman on the street.
“Rick and Joe are the most incredible humans and have so much compassion,” the family member said.
‘They did the best they could.
“They will be mentally scared for a long time.”
Cauchi, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia, had moved to Sydney in recent months and is believed to have been sleeping rough.
Police are treating the tragedy as related to mental health, and his parents told reporters earlier this week that he had stopped taking his medication in recent years.
The horrific attack also claimed the lives of young bride-to-be Dawn Singleton, 25, architect and mother of two Jade Young, artist and designer Pikria Darchia, 55, Chinese student Yixuan Cheng, 27 , and the refugee and security guard from Pakistan. Faraz Tahir, 30 years old.
Eleven other people were rushed to Sydney hospitals with various injuries, and another six remain in hospital, including two women in ICU.