IS WESTFIELD BONDI JUNCTION OPEN TODAY? WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
- Westfield Bondi Junction makes plans to reopen after mass stabbing
- Six people - five woman and one man - were killed by Joel Cauchi
- READ MORE: How Ashlee Good's husband was forced to make impossible choice
Retailers at Westfield Bondi Junction will reopen on Friday after the shopping centre became the scene of a mass stabbing that claimed the lives of six people.
The complex is being used as a makeshift memorial for mourners after five women and one man were fatally stabbed by Joel Cauchi, 40, on Saturday.
Members of the public have left dozens of bouquets of flowers at the site, which was visited by the Sydney Roosters NRL team on Wednesday.
The shopping center will reopen on Thursday for a community reflection day. Members of the public are welcome to come and walk through the complex to pay their respects.
Following this, on Friday, retailers within the shopping center will officially open again.
NSW Police confirmed in a statement on Wednesday that officers had finished forensically analysing the shopping centre.
'The shopping centre has been handed back to the operators,' police said.
NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said thousands of pieces of evidence had been collected and will be analysed over the next few weeks.
She confirmed Cauchi will be subject to a toxicology report but said post-mortems for the victims would be prioritised.
'We anticipate the offender will be subject for post mortem later this week. He will be subject to toxicology,' the commissioner told Sky News.
'Those toxicology tests do take time, and it might be some days or weeks before we have any idea what was in his system.
'We anticipate that the post mortems on the victims and offender will be done this week. In fact, I think the victims will be done first and we think that’s appropriate so they can be given to their families.'
Up to 1500 vehicles were left behind by shoppers when they were forced to evacuate the centre with some able to collect their car on Sunday.
Chief executive of the Scentre Group Elliott Rusanow was seen paying his respects at the memorial on Monday afternoon.
He stopped short of giving an official reopening date.
'The process of reopening is a challenging one,' Mr Rusanow said.
'Westfield Bondi plays an important role for many, many members of the community, but we have to recognise that this has been the scene of very tragic circumstances and incidence.
'We have to respect the loss of life, the victims, and the victims' families, and we will take that into consideration in a way that respects what has occurred.'
Mr Rusanow said the victim's families had been invited to visit the centre and pay their respects to loved ones if they wished to do so.
Daily Mail Australia have contacted the Scentre Group for comment.
Read more 2024-04-17T02:35:07Z dg43tfdfdgfd