Westfield Bondi Junction ‘bollard man’ hero offered Australian citizenship

A Frenchman who confronted the Bondi Junction attacker will be allowed to stay in Australia, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promising to grant him citizenship after his heroic act.

Damien Guerot was nicknamed ‘Bollard Man’ after a viral video showed him bravely confronting stabber Joel Cauchi on an escalator.

TheWSTNews Australia understands he intervened to prevent the attacker from reaching an area where many children had been playing at Westfield Bondi Junction.

This was just one of many instances where Mr Guerot rushed to help others in need during Cauchi’s horrific stabbing in which he killed five women and a man.

Sir. Guerot’s visa expires in a month and a petition was launched to grant him Australian citizenship following his heroic actions amid the Bondi Junction stabbing.

Albanese was asked on Tuesday morning about Mr Guerot’s visa.

‘I say this to Damien Guerot, who is processing his visa applications, that you are welcome here. You are welcome to stay as long as you like.

“This is someone that we would be delighted to become an Australian citizen, although of course it would be a loss for France.

‘We thank him for his extraordinary bravery. It says a lot about the nature of humanity.

“At a time when we are facing difficult issues, a person who is not a citizen of this country stood bravely at the top of these escalators and prevented this perpetrator from entering another floor and potentially harming the citizens further carnage.

‘I think on Saturday we saw some of the best of human character at the same time as we saw such a devastating tragedy and I thank Damien for his extraordinary efforts.

Six people were stabbed to death at Westfield Bondi Junction on Saturday (pictured left to right, Jade Young, 47, Pikria Darchia, 55, Dawn Singleton, 25, Yixuan Cheng, 27, Ashlee Good, 38 and Faraz Tahir, 30.

Shoppers were evacuated to store premises to escape the killer

He was going to the gym with his Frenchman Silas Despreaux on Saturday afternoon when they stumbled upon the scene of the carnage.

“We tried to catch him, but he was coming down the stairs,” Guerot told 7News.

‘Then we saw him go down, so we followed him from the top. We might have tried to throw the bollard to him, but we couldn’t.’

Sir. Guerot said he was running from pure ‘adrenaline’.

‘We didn’t think. You can’t think in that moment, he said.

Sir. Guerot said Cauchi had “blank eyes” and photos of him released today looked nothing like the man who went on an indiscriminate knife-killing spree.

“His eyes were like empty eyes… he wasn’t there,” Mr Guerot said.

The two comrades fired the bollards at Cauchi, but he managed to escape.

Emergency vehicles flooded the Bondi area in the wake of the attack

Sir. Guerot grabbed a chair and chased NSW Police Inspector Amy Scott, who shot and killed Cauci after he lunged at her.

The Frenchman praised Inspector Scott’s quick thinking.

“She was actually the hero, she got the job done,” he said.

Cauchi apparently targeted women in the attack, but authorities have yet to find a motive for the nation’s worst massacre in recent years.

He was shot dead after killing Dawn Singleton, 25, Jade Young, 47, Pikria Darchia, 55, Yixuan Cheng, 27 and 30-year-old Faraz Tahir, while Ashlee Good, 38, later died in hospital.

A baby girl who was critically injured in the carnage is showing signs of recovery.

Seven people, including the child, remained in hospital Monday night.

Health Minister Ryan Park said her condition had improved.

“Gladly, we have seen the nine-month-old baby at Randwick Children’s Hospital have his condition downgraded from critical to serious,” he said.

‘We hope to have her on a ward in the next few days.’