Sydney university student mistakenly identified by Channel 7 as mass killer

A young Sydney man mistakenly identified as the Bondi Junction killer has hit out at those who “mindlessly” propagated the misinformation, including the Seven Network, saying it was distressing that so many were willing to spread the unverified claims.

Ben Cohen, a 20-year-old student at the University of Technology Sydney who lives in the eastern suburbs with his family, was misidentified as the person responsible for murdering six people at Westfield shopping centre in Bondi Junction on Saturday afternoon.

Cohen was named as the killer on social media, in particular on X, from about 8.30pm on Saturday. His name was soon trending, with thousands of comments, many of which drew attention to his Jewish identity.

The misinformation was then broadcast by Channel 7 on its YouTube channel in a promo for Sunrise. The network described him as “40-year-old lone-wolf attacker Benjamin Cohen”.

Loading

Cohen was bombarded by thousands of messages on social media on Saturday night, which he and his family found “highly distressing”.

“It’s extremely disappointing to see thousands of people mindlessly propagating misinformation without even the slightest thought put to fact-checking or real-life consequences, and then using that information to push an agenda and spread hatred,” Cohen told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. “Channel 7 has informed me that they will be issuing a formal apology later today.”

A Seven spokesman said: “The mistake was human error, and it has been rectified. Seven sincerely apologises for the error.”

Early on Sunday morning, Cohen’s father Mark Cohen posted on X calling for NSW Police to release the killer’s name “before this nonsense claiming it was my son causes more harm”.