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Chilling words uttered by Westfield Bondi Junction knifeman

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A brave survivor of the Bondi Junction Westfield stabbing rampage has recalled the two chilling words the knifeman uttered after he plunged his blade into her ribs and narrowly missed her heart.

Liya Barko, 35, was shopping for a volleyball on April 13 when Joel Cauchi stabbed her with a 30cm hunting knife during his terrifying attack that claimed the lives of five women and a security guard at the busy shopping centre in Sydney's east.

Ms Barko, who was born in Ukraine, spent the next 10 days fighting for life in intensive care and was discharged from hospital a week ago.

She recalled how the harrowing ordeal happened so quickly that she didn't even see Cauchi's knife.

'I think he just looked at me and he decided in that moment and then I looked at my hands and I was bleeding,' she told Nine News.

After the horrifying attack, Cauchi looked at Ms Barko and said 'catch you', before continued his killing spree. 

Liya Barko (pictured), 35, was shopping for a volleyball on Saturday 13 April when Joel Cauchi stabbed her with a 30cm hunting knife in a rampage that claimed the lives of six people.

A quick thinking hero in a green T-shirt then pulled Ms Barko into a shop where he closed the security screen and applied pressure to her wound - which almost certainly saved her life.   

'When you are on the floor, you're bleeding, you can see everyone's expression and some of them were crying, they were scared... for their lives also,' she said while fighting back tears. 

Ms Barko is now on a mission to track down the man in the green T-shirt to personally thank him for saving her life.

'I would like to see him again, to at least give him a hug because I don't know how we would have managed without him in that moment,' she said.

One burning question remains on her mind.

'My question is how did it happen, why a schizophrenic man was there outside with a knife making a normal Saturday afternoon, he just turn it into hell?' she asked. 

Ms Barko, who moved to Sydney 18 months ago to study, spent ten days in intensive care where her life hung in the balance. 

She recalled waking up to a smiling doctor who filled her with hope.

'He was so happy, I have never seen someone really so happy,' Ms Barko said. 

'I thought like okay, if I die right now, I'll just destroy his shift. So I can't die right now because he's just so happy.'

Ms Barko, who worked part-time as a cleaner, was only released from hospital a week ago.

Ms Barko revealed that after the horrifying attack Cauchi (pictured) looked at her and said: 'Catch you', before moving on with his killing spree

'By some miracle, the knife narrowly missed her heart,' Spencer Benjamin, who organised a GoFundMe page for her wrote. 

'However, the incident resulted in a pierced stomach and liver, three broken ribs and severed arteries and veins. 

'The surgeons battled not just to save her life but to prevent lasting neurological damage, as her brain was starved of oxygen for a critical period.'

Lone knifeman Cauchi , 40, murdered six people and stabbed 12 more innocent shoppers during the terrifying rampage that shocked the world.  

His victims were Ash Good, 38, Dawn Singleton, 25, Jade Young , 47, Pikria Darchia, 55, and Yixuan Cheng, 27, and security guard Faraz Tahir, 30.

Ms Barko wants to track down the quick thinking hero in a green T-shirt who saved her life

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