‘Hatred toward women’: Killer’s psychiatrist makes bombshell claim at Bondi inquest

Joel Cauchi’s long-term psychiatrist has made the bombshell claim that he was “not psychotic” during the Bondi Junction Westfield attack, and might have killed six people out of a hatred for women.

The evidence from the doctor who weaned Cauchi off his antipsychotic medication flies in the face of all expert reports. She said the medication “would have made no difference”.

Police footage of Joel Cauchi outside the family home in 2023.

A knife-wielding Cauchi died after NSW Police Inspector Amy Scott bravely confronted him on the fifth level of the Westfield on April 13, 2024, after the 40-year-old stabbed and killed six shoppers.

This week, the coroner has heard evidence from the registered nurses and psychiatrist who cared for Cauchi in his home town of Toowoomba, Queensland, through his 20s and 30s.

The psychiatrist who treated Cauchi at a private clinic between 2012 and 2020, known only as Dr A for legal reasons, clashed with the inquest’s counsel assisting throughout the most tense day so far of the weeks-long inquest.

“On the day of the 13th of April 2024, when the events of Bondi Junction unfolded, do you believe Joel suffered from a psychosis?” counsel assisting the inquest Peggy Dwyer asked on Tuesday.

“I honestly believe that it was nothing to do with psychosis,” Dr A replied, frustrated and angry.

“It might have been due to his sexual frustration, pornography, and hatred towards women. That is my opinion.”

Dr A’s evidence contradicts a panel of psychiatric experts whose evidence to the inquest suggests Cauchi was “floridly psychotic” and stabbed people at random.

They concluded he was not motivated by any hatred or fixation on women after reviewing evidence from his phones and internet history.

CCTV footage of Joel Cauchi at Bondi Westfield. His former psychiatrist believes he was “not psychotic” during the attack.

The evidence from Dr A has become central to the inquest as she weaned Cauchi off two antipsychotic medications, Clopine and Abilify, in the years before the attack. He was completely unmedicated from mid-2019.

“Do you take responsibility for the decision-making in removing Joel from Clopine and Abilify?” Dwyer asked.

“It was my decision, and his decision,” Dr A shot back.

“I was listening to the patient,” she later added.

Dwyer suggested Dr A did not want to accept Cauchi was psychotic because it would mean she had failed in her care.

“I did not fail in my care of Joel... I have no error on my behalf. That is my answer,” Dr A said.

By his late 20s and 30s Cauchi was highly intelligent, spoke multiple languages, and eager to establish a full life outside his parents’ care, clinical notes show.

But his decline from late 2019 was swift and dramatic.

His mother tried desperately to raise the alarm with Dr A and the clinic.

Michele Cauchi tried desperately to raise the alarm about her son’s spiralling psychiatric state.Credit: Nine News

Michele Cauchi warned doctors and nurses that her son was scrawling notes about being under “satanic” control, wearing layers of clothing to avoid illness, and was walking strangely.

“You had an agreement with (Cauchi), if there would be signs and symptoms of psychosis, he would take the medication?” Dwyer asked Dr A.

“He was a private patient, he decides if he wants to take the medication,” Dr A said.

By November 2019 Cauchi was obsessing over pornography and sexually transmitted diseases.

But Dr A denied Cauchi showed early warning signs of relapse into psychosis in the final years of her care.

“Sitting in the witness box today … do you accept he did develop a psychosis?” Dwyer asked.

“It wasn’t psychosis, it wasn’t even early warning signs of relapse, it was based on his fear of STDs, it was based on his sexual frustration, he told us later about prostitutes and women and sex,” Dr A said.

“(Re-medicating Cauchi) wouldn’t have changed the outcome and, in hindsight, it wasn’t necessary – the medication.”

Cauchi’s father, who has his own mental health problems, had spoken with his son’s carers and described hearing the “voice of God” and “demons” of his own in 2019.

He did not want his son to take any medication, and feared it could kill him.

Dr A told the inquest that schizophrenia is hereditary, and required lifelong psychiatric care and monitoring.

Cauchi was discharged from Dr A’s clinic in 2020 and moved to Brisbane. Around that time, he began running into problems with police and became fixated with knives.

Cauchi was reliant on his own judgment, which was growing more impaired without the medicine and the support network of his parents, who now lived almost two hours’ drive away.

If you or someone you know need support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue. SANE phone and digital support services can be accessed at sane.org. In the event of an emergency, dial Triple Zero (000).

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