Sydney: NI woman sheltered those fleeing fatal knife attack
A County Down woman who runs a hair salon close to the scene of the Sydney stabbings kept her business open to shelter those fleeing from the attack.
Six people were killed when a man stabbed customers in Westfield Bondi Junction shopping centre on Saturday.
Leanne Devine said "traumatised" customers came into her salon having run in fear for their lives.
"We're in shock mode - it's traumatising," she told BBC News NI.
"I've been in Bondi Junction for 21 years and I've never witnessed anything like this."
She described the situation as "just horrific".
Before emigrating to Australia, Ms Devine lived in Brackenagh, just outside Kilkeel, and is a former pupil of St Columban's College.
Her hair salon is on Sydney's Oxford Street, close to the shopping centre, and many of her clients work and shop in Westfield.
'Really scary'
Speaking to BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme she explained how her staff had been getting ready to finish up for the day when they saw "hundreds of people running and screaming, shouting in fear".
Ms Devine said those fleeing were "shouting and screaming" and saying that they had heard gunshots and that people had been stabbed.
They were in tears, she said: "It was traumatising - people were traumatised."
"People came in telling us people are stabbing people, somebody's been shot.
"We had to give them glasses of water and then there was more (people) - it's just because it (the salon) was the first point outside Westfield."
'Ready to pass out'
Elderly people who were doing their grocery shopping took shelter at Ms Devine's salon and they had "hot and cold sweats" from what they had witnessed.
Ms Devine said some of them couldn't walk any further, "we thought some of them were literally going to pass out".
Other people took shelter because their cars were trapped in Westfield's car park for hours while a major security operation continued.
She said some of the elderly customers looked like they had been "ready to pass out" as she and her staff tried to calm them down.
At that stage, none of them knew if the attack was continuing or if the suspect was still on the loose.
"It's just trying to digest it all - I feel so sorry for the families that have passed away, for their friends and their family and the people inside Westfield - it's just going to be so horrific for a very very long time.
"This type of stuff just does not happen in Bondi," added Ms Devine.
"It was a really scary, traumatic time," she said.
"It was horrific seeing young children running and crying."
The man who carried out the attack was shot dead by a lone police officer.
He has since been identified as 40-year-old Joel Cauchi.
Queensland Police said he was known to them, having been first diagnosed with a mental illness at 17.
Among those killed in the attack were Ashlee Good, a 38-year-old mother who died protecting her baby.
Ms Devine said her thoughts were with all the victims - the dead, the injured and those who witnessed the attack.
"I just feel so sorry for everybody who was in Westfield," she said.
"I feel to sorry for all the families - the five woman and one man who were killed and what their families have to go through now."
