Brave men who confronted Bondi Junction knifeman with bollards named

  • 15/04/2024

The two brave men who confronted the knife-wielding attacker at a Sydney mall on the weekend have been named.

French construction workers Damien Guerot and Silas Despreaux have been revealed as the men armed with bollards who faced off against 40-year-old Joel Cauchi when he went on his killing rampage.

The pair were heading to a gym at Bondi Westfield when the chaos unfolded.

Footage that has gone viral on social media shows Guerot blocking the top of an escalator, holding a bollard as Cauchi walks towards him.

The Daily Telegraph reports he was preventing the attacker from reaching an area where dozens of children had been playing.

Despreaux also confronted Cauchi with a bollard during the attack and local media reported the two men are believed to have led a police officer to the killer's location, where the attacker was then shot.

"We tried to catch him but he was going down the stairs, then we saw him going down so we followed, tried to maybe throw the bollard at him but we couldn't," Guerot told Seven News.

"The eyes was like empty eyes (sic), he wasn't there."

When asked about the actions of the man with the bollard at a press conference on Sunday, NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Anthony Cooke said bystanders had shown extreme bravery.

"People do things in times of stress, people do some very, very brave things in these circumstances," he said.

Guerot was hailed as a hero on social media, where he was dubbed "Bollard Man".

Guerot facing off against Cauchi at the top of an escalator.
Guerot facing off against Cauchi at the top of an escalator. Photo credit: Twitter

Seven people, including Cauchi, were killed on Saturday and several others were injured.

Cauchi, 40, arrived in Sydney from Queensland in March and police believe he had no ideological motivation for the attacks. He was shot dead by Inspector Amy Scott.

Five of the victims have been named. They include artist Pikria Darchia, aged 55, architect Jade Young, security guard Faraz Tahir, e-commerce assistant and daughter of multi-millionaire Dawn Singleton, aged 25, and mother Ashlee Good, 38, whose baby was injured in the attack.  

Newshub.