More than a year before Joel Cauchi stabbed six people to death in Bondi, a Queensland police officer requested the local mental health officer follow up with the Cauchi family, an inquest has heard.
It followed Cauchi’s mother reportedly telling police during a separate incident: “I don’t know how we’re going to get him treatment unless he does something drastic.”
The police officer “overlooked” the email, the inquest heard, which had detailed an incident where Cauchi had called the police to his parents home after his father had taken away his knives amid concern about his son’s mental health.
“Unfortunately there was an oversight and I did not manage to follow up,” the officer who saw the email but was held up with another job, told the coronial inquest in Sydney on Monday.
“I can’t provide an explanation for the lack of contact.”
Asked if he accepted a psychiatrist’s assessment that was not followed up was a “missed opportunity”, he said, “I accept that.”
The inquest, scheduled for five weeks, is examining the stabbing of six people by Cauchi, who had schizophrenia, at Westfield in Bondi Junction in April 2024.
Cauchi, then 40, killed Ashlee Good, 38, Jade Young, 47, Yixuan Cheng, 27, Pikria Darchia, 55, Dawn Singleton, 25, and Faraz Tahir, 30, and injured 10 others at the shopping centre on 13 April last year before he was shot and killed by police inspector Amy Scott.
‘Fixated on those knives’
On Monday, officers from Queensland police gave evidence about the early warning signs of Cauchi’s deteriorating mental health – and the force’s response.
Body-worn camera footage was played to the court which showed the two officer’s interaction with Cauchi and his mother after Cauchi called police to his home in January 2023 following his father confiscating what Cauchi called his “collector knives”.
At that time, Cauchi had not been on his medication for his schizophrenia for five years, the court was told. Before that, he had been medicated since he was 17.
The court heard that Cauchi had been weaned off his medication by a psychiatrist and was meant to be monitored, but wasn’t.
The body-worn camera showed Cauchi was waiting on the front lawn outside his parents’ suburban Toowoomba home when the police arrived, the body-worn camera footage showed.
The police officer described Cauchi, who appeared relaxed and friendly, as “quite reasonable to talk to” when later talking to another officer.
“He wasn’t dishevelled, he wasn’t erratic in his behaviour. He certainly wasn’t aggressive,” the officer told the court on Monday.
Cauchi had explained to the officer: “My dad has taken some of my property … and he will not give it back. I tried to negotiate, but he is not willing.”
The police officer asked if there was a reason his father took the knives away, and Cauchi responded that he did not know.
The officer, describing the interaction to the court, said Cauchi appeared “fixated on those knives”.
The officer searched Cauchi on the police database while speaking with him and saw an alert that he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and was a weapons holder, the inquest was told.
The officer later asked how Cauchi’s mental health had been. He responded: “It’s been very good.” Cauchi also told the officer his medication was “dropped down”.
At the same time, another female officer spoke to Cauchi’s mother. The court heard, via her body-worn camera footage, that Cauchi had reportedly “laid hands” on his 75-year-old father in an attempt to get, what she described as “pigging” knives, back.
His mother also told the officer he had also been “raging and screaming” and pacing around at 3am, but hadn’t made any threats to harm anyone.
“When he’s on medication he’s a totally different person,” Cauchi’s mother can be heard telling the officer in her body worn camera footage. “The side effects are just so potent.
“I don’t think he’s psychotic but, he’s definitely not thinking straight, he really needs to be on medication.”
“I don’t know how we’re going to get him treatment unless he does something drastic.”
The court heard Cauchi’s parents had only planned to keep the knives until they were satisfied their son’s mental health had improved.
Someone was coming to the house the following day to “try and figure out where he can live”.
The officer who spoke to Cauchi then returned to him and said: “They’re just a little bit concerned about your mental health” and that they weren’t taking the knives off him “permanently”.
“They just want to make sure you’re OK is all,” the officer told him. Cauchi responded: “Well, I’m perfectly fine.”
The next day, Cauchi brought a new knife from a camping store, the court heard.
‘Lost’ email requesting follow-up
The officer who spoke to Cauchi during the call-out told the court that the number of mental health-related call-outs generally had “increased a lot”.
He was trained “very briefly” to respond to mental health incidents when attending the academy prior to beginning in the force in 2005, but had “no direct training” since. The other two officers who appeared before the court had also described their mental health training as limited.
Before 2017, Queensland police had the power to detain someone under the Mental Health Act if they were considered a threat to themselves or others. But the court heard this had changed, and police no longer had the power under the act to detain someone if they were a threat to others.
When asked if he would support that change being reversed, the officer on Monday said: “Definitely, yes.”
He added that he did not think Cauchi fitted the criteria to be detained, however. The inquest heard his parents were OK with him remaining at home.
The morning after the call-out to Cauchi’s home, the officer emailed the mental health incident coordinator, describing the incident. He concluded the email: “If a follow-up could be made, that would be great.”
The court heard there was no follow-up and the email was “lost”.
The officer, who was managing mental health interventions at the time was acting in the role for five weeks. He appeared before the court on Monday and said he had been given a verbal handover and a document explaining his responsibilities.
The court heard the system has since changed, with requests for support from the mental health officer now set as tasks in the police database that require sign off once completed, rather than being sent as an email.
Six weeks after the January 2023 call-out, Cauchi made another criminal complaint to the police about his father allegedly stealing his knives.
The court heard that the female officer, who had spoken to Cauchi’s mother during the initial incident, received a “call or email” that Cauchi had made this second complaint, but did not follow up on his mental health.
“I made the focus about the knives” she said off her report into the police database about the complaint.
“I also didn’t know at the time if he had already been linked [with mental health support] or if he had been re-medicated … I didn’t know anything about his mental health other than that he’s still upset about his knives,” she told the court.
“In hindsight I guess I could have sent a further email and asked questions of the mental health unit.”
The inquest continues.
• In Australia, support is available at Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636, Lifeline on 13 11 14, and at MensLine on 1300 789 978. In the UK, the charity Mind is available on 0300 123 3393 and Childline on 0800 1111. In the US, call or text Mental Health America at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org
