Joel Cauchi, a security guard in charge of emergency response, fatally stabbed six people inside the Bondi mall and told the investigation that communication difficulties led to delays warning customers about the incident.
The Crown investigation learned that the public emergency announcement was not released until 17 minutes after Kuch killed his sixth and last victim, and police had shot him and killed him.
The revelation was the display of CCTV in a Royal Investigation Wednesday and examined the movement of security guard Joseph Garen, who was designated as the chief warden on the day of the incident.
In an emergency, Gaerlan's mission in this position involves keeping people safe and providing information to police.
"It's very difficult...it's very frustrating to watch CCTV because the past is not the time of that day," he said.
“It feels so fast…from different people, different sources have multiple information.”
The investigation is scheduled to take place for five weeks in five weeks and is studying six fatal stabbings at Westfield Bondi Junction in April 2024 at Westfield Bondi Junction.
Cauchi, 40, killed Ashlee Good, 38, Jade Young, 47, Jade Young, 27, Pikria Darchia, 55, Dawn Singleton, 25, and Faraz Tahir, 30, and was shot and killed by police officer Amy Scott on April 13 last year and was injured in a shopping mall on April 13, 10.
When the incident occurred, Gaerlan, 29, told the court that he first learned of the incident during lunch break when another security guard issued a "troubled" radio alert at 3.33 p.m.: "There's a lot of blood, you need to hurry up."
According to Gaerlan's evidence, she also mentioned the code Black Alpha (a threat to personal safety), but not the location.
The court heard the account was different from the written records provided by Gaerlan a few days after the incident, who said the guard told him there was a knife. Gaerlan told the court that he was under pressure while writing but did not have a correct recall schedule.
The court showed Gaerlan walked through CCTV footage in the center to find out what was going on, and the client saw him stop him from asking what was going on. He speculated to the court that they had seen the shop close the shutters and wondered why.
CCTV shows Galand continues through the shopping mall, and customers stick out toward the front of the store before quickly turning around and running.
Gaerlan told the court that it was the moment at 3.37 pm and he got the first confirmation from another security officer that there was an "active armed criminal" and that "call the blue light right away and we need an emergency backup".
Senior attorney assisted coroner Peggy Dwyer SC in asking why he wasn't reminded by clients nearby at the time, Gaerlan said: "My key focus is to be the chief warden (referring to issuing public announcements) to develop key principles or missions because I knew this could have reached the widest range."
He told the court that it was difficult to send radio messages due to the amount of traffic. He told the court that once he was able to pass, he had communicated a message to other guards via radio stations requesting public announcements and had contacted police. The court heard that he didn't remember whether he received a reply.
When asked why he didn't follow the process and moved radio communications to "emergency channels," Garen said he didn't want to take risks and did not realize that security personnel had moved the channels.
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The court heard that the guards received training from active armed criminals 11 days before the incident.
Two minutes after Scott shot Cauchi and died, at 3.40 p.m. CCTV showed Gaerlan entering the mall's control room. He told the court that he only knew of an armed criminal at the time and had not yet known how many criminals were, what the weapon was, or whether there were deaths.
"The information is still unclear," he said.
He told the court that he confirmed in the control room that she was calling the police and then saw him calling him about a higher security officer. He said he told the manager that he had a gun but he didn't know it yet.
Then I saw CCTV footage of the day when the guards reviewed. Gaerlan told the court at this point that he knew Cauchi had a knife.
He told the court that he "assumed" that another officer told the police that there was only one criminal. The court heard that he has not yet realized that it has not been publicly announced.
Dwyer asked why he named the senior manager’s core mission as the chief warden, including keeping people safe and providing information to the police – “I was scared and thought it was the next step in my mind,” Gaerlan said.
"I did everything I could in all the sources at that time," he told the court.
The court heard that, when he realized that it had not been filed, he told a security guard in the control room that it had made a public announcement.
He told the court: “According to my instructions, my understanding happened sometime before that.”
When asked about what he learned from the incident, Gaerlan replied: Clearer radio communications.
The investigation continues.