Parents of Westfield killer Joel Cauchi send thank-you notes

EXCLUSIVE 

Joel Cauchi’s elderly parents are contacting every Australian who sent them a message of support after their schizophrenic son stabbed to death six people at Westfield Bondi Junction. 

Michele and Andrew Cauchi have received cards and flowers from across the country in the two months since the massacre, many sent by Australians who have a family member suffering serious mental illness.

The outpouring of empathy has overwhelmed the couple, whose quiet lives in regional Queensland were upended by the Sydney shopping centre carnage of April 13.  

Their 40-year-old son’s rampage ended only when he was shot dead by hero cop Inspector Amy Scott, the first police officer on the scene.

Those killed were: new mother Ashlee Good, 38, bride-to-be Dawn Singleton, 25, security guard Faraz Ahmed Tahir, 30, architect Jade Young, 47, artist Pikria Darchia, 55, and economics student Yixuan Cheng, 27.

A dozen other victims were taken to hospital including Ms Good’s nine-month-old daughter Harriet. 

The Cauchis have engaged Brisbane-based mental health support organisation Arafmi to help them respond to all those who have expressed their sympathy and understanding of the couple’s own loss.

Daily Mail Australia has obtained one of the letters Arafmi general manager Alex Tyson has been mailing to those strangers who have offered the Cauchi’s much-needed comfort. 

‘The Cauchi family has asked Arafmi to write to you on their behalf,’ Ms Tyson writes in the letter.

‘They thank you for your kind thoughts and the personal message you have sent.

‘The family appreciate the ongoing support they have received from so many people in the community and this includes the message from you.’

The letters are geographically tailored to recipients, providing contact details for local agencies which support carers of loved ones suffering from mental health difficulties.

‘In messages to the family many people shared their own experiences of supporting and caring for someone with mental health needs,’ Ms Tyson writes. 

‘At times these experiences can be challenging and there are supports available in all states in Australia to support carers in these situations.’ 

Daily Mail Australia spoke to the Cauchis at their Toowoomba home two weeks after the deaths of their son and his victims.

Devastated their son could become so unhinged he would turn into a multiple murderer, they were overcome by a range of emotions including confusion and grief.

‘First of all, I feel for the victims,’ Mrs Cauchi said. 

‘I don’t want to take anything away from the victims. I’m so sorry about what has happened. Our son unravelled in the last few months and we didn’t know.

‘But I just want to say thank you to the people around Australia who have sent cards and letters.

‘The majority of them have a family member with a mental illness.’

At the time, Mrs Cauchi said many of the notes she and her husband had received did not have return addresses, so she could not respond to the senders.

‘I’m just not in a state to answer them at this stage anyway,’ she said. 

‘But I just wanted to say thank you, people have been very kind.’

The Cauchis had previously said they understood why Inspector Scott was forced to shoot their son and ‘we hope she is coping all right’. 

Mr Cauchi said he and his wife had been sent so many flowers that when one ‘lovely local girl’ arrived with more he had not shown enough appreciation.

‘We’ve been inundated with probably $2,000 worth of flowers,’ Mr Cauchi said on April 26. ‘And food and fruit and cards.’

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Mr Cauchi said he was grateful for ‘the compassion of this nation’ but would be trying to cope with what his son had done ‘for the next 40 years’.

‘Joel deserves what he got as far as I’m concerned,’ he said through tears.

His wife immediately responded: ‘Shoosh, don’t say that.’

‘He’s very upset,’ Mrs Cauchi said.

‘We didn’t know he’d slipped so far. And even if we did know, what would we do?

‘Take our adult child by force to come home and then what? Where would you take him? I’m sorry, it’s just very difficult.

‘He did a terrible thing and I’m not denying that. I’m really sorry that it happened.’

Mrs Cauchi said New South Wales and Queensland police had been ‘absolutely wonderful’ in their dealings with the couple.

‘Everybody has been really considerate,’ she said. 

‘Regardless of what they might think about what happened they’ve been very kind.

‘So I just wanted to say thank you.’