Grieving father's emotional plea to scrap Bondi stabbing inquest

On that terrible day at Bondi's Westfield shopping centre, Joel Cauchi fatally stabbed six people and injured 10 more before being shot dead by a lone policewoman.

It was one of the most shocking mass murders our country has ever witnessed, but for businessman John Singleton, the pain cuts even more deeply.

His darling daughter Dawn was the first of the victims to lose their lives, and the youngest at just 25 years old. 

"To go through something like this is just inexplicable … I've been through some rotten things, but nothing as personal as this," Singleton told Nine's Tracy Grimshaw. 

"I can't go to the movies anymore because as soon as the lights go out, I cry. I don't know why that is."

Singleton admits he wasn't always around while his daughter was growing up, but they had been spending more time together before her death. 

Dawn had been set to marry her childhood sweetheart, and had gone to the Westfield shopping centre to buy make-up for her wedding.

"I've never met a more gentle human being than Dawnie," he remembered. 

"To see someone so gentle and so vulnerable have her life concluded like this, it probably makes it 10 times worse."

But it's not the anniversary of the Bondi tragedy that's prompted John to speak out - instead, it's another upcoming date that's filling him with dread. 

A coronial inquest is set to begin later this month, examining the events of that awful day and how the mentally ill killer slipped through the cracks of the health system. 

Unlike many of the victims' loved ones, John is calling for the hearing to be shelved entirely. 

"I'm worried about the family or loved ones of those people who were killed, and I don't see why their privacy should be upset by an inquiry," he argued.

"He kills these people, he gets killed. End of story. What else do they want to find out? For four weeks?"

John isn't speaking on behalf of his family either - these are his views and his alone. 

What horrifies him most is the possibility of graphic CCTV and police bodycam vision being played in court or released to the public.

The court has indicated that will not happen, but John wants an ironclad guarantee.

"If they get rid of all the private footage, the CCTV footage, of these people who were killed and the actual killing, then let them proceed and waste their time and money." 

As much as he can't bear the idea of a coronial inquest, he still has questions he wants answered, such as why Cauchi was taken off medication for treating his diagnosed schizophrenia before the killings. 

"I think anyone with his degree of problems, publicly known, still left to wander around the streets, suggests the system needs a hard look," John said. 

"What does that have to do with footage of lovely little girls and one bloke getting killed? Nothing."

The grieving father acknowledges there are some contradictions in his passionate argument, but he is dealing with an impossibly difficult situation.

John is simply lashing out at a process that he believes will only renew the unimaginable pain so many have already suffered. 

"The process I could disagree with, but I wouldn't mount the concerns I'm now mounting, because I'm only protecting the privacy of those who've been through enough."

And given what he has been through, you can hardly blame him. 

"If there is a God, get him in the witness box too."

"I've got some questions I'd like to ask him."

A lawyer acting for Dawn's fiance, mother and sister has issued a statement saying: "Mr Singleton does not speak on their behalf and the views expressed by him are his alone and are not shared by our clients."

Watch the full story on 9Now.