Westfield Bondi Junction: Joe Tomarchio saw Ashlee Good and her baby daughter ... trends now

EXCLUSIVE 

A hero who saved the nine-month-old baby stabbed in the Westfield Bondi Junction attack had previously made headlines for his heroism. 

Brothers Joe and Rick Tomarchio were in the shopping centre on Saturday afternoon when Joel Cauchi, 40, a schizophrenic man who had stopped taking his medication, embarked on his killing spree.

After witnessing mother Ashlee Good, 38, and her baby daughter Harriet get stabbed, the siblings quickly ushered the pair into the Tommy Hilfiger store to save their lives - using clothes from the store to compress their wounds. 

Their harrowing account of their ordeal became one of the first stories to emerge about the unfolding incident as they spoke to a new reporter at the scene moments after finally being evacuated from the centre. 

Now, Daily Mail Australia can reveal Joe, a Sydney banker, was publicly praised in 2010 after he stopped to help an elderly woman who fell over and smashed her head on the road in the city's CBD. 

The good Samaritan held her head up and rallied other bystanders to assist him while they waited for an ambulance to arrive. 

'It was automatic. I knew somebody had to take control of the situation,' Mr Tomarchio told media at the time.

'I grabbed her hand and told her everything was going to be OK..

'I then asked where she worked, tried to keep her talking and keep her really comfortable, and then called for help with the local construction workers.' 

Mr Tomarchio, who had been walking to work when he witnessed the woman fall, said he was surprised no one else had stopped to help as she laid on the road during peak hour traffic.

The woman's daughter hailed him a star, saying when she initially saw her mother, she thought she was dead.

'Joe was the star. The way he stayed so calm and just held her hand, I can't thank him enough,' she said at the time.