Nine-month-old baby girl injured in Sydney mall stabbing attack out of intensive care
The nine-month-old girl who was injured during a stabbing attack in a Sydney mall on Saturday is now out of the intensive care unit (ICU), authorities said.
The baby girl, daughter of Ashlee Good who died during the attack at the Westfield Bondi Junction shopping centre, was in a serious condition but was stable, health officials said.
Good was among the six people killed in the carnage on Saturday. Five of them were women.
The baby had suffered chest and arm injuries during the shopping centre attack and underwent surgery at the Sydney Children’s Hospital.
Thirty-eight-year-old Good was the first victim to be identified after 40-year-old Joel Cauchi began stabbing people at the shopping centre. Witnesses reported that she handed over her small child to other terrified shoppers for them to carry out make-shift medical aid.
Two brothers said they tried to help her and her child using shirts from the shop they were sheltering in to stop the bleeding.
One of the brothers told 9News Sydney: “We were just shopping and saw the man run up to the woman with the baby and then we were both ready to go and help out.
“But I just said to my brother, ‘We’ve got to run in’ – [we] ran in, told the guys to lock up the doors and then the mother came with the baby bleeding, stabbed and we got them into the store and just got them safe and then rang for help.”
Good later died in St Vincent’s Hospital from her wounds.
Six, including the infant girl, remained hospitalised following the assault, with two women in critical condition, according to a statement from a spokesperson for New South Wales Health.
Six others who were injured have already been released from the hospital.
NSW health minister Ryan Park was quoted as saying by 9New that said the girl’s condition was “a big change and a significant improvement”.
Prime minister Anthony Albanese also paid tribute to Good: “This is a tragedy that should never have occurred. That young mother has shown the extraordinary spirit that mothers have.”