Qld police powerless to have Bondi Junction killer Joel Cauchi mentally assessed: Court
Joel Cauchi assaulted his father after he confiscated his knives during a 2023 dispute at the family home. But police could not get a mental health check because he was not an ‘immediate’ suicide risk.
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Queensland’s restrictive health legislation prevented police from taking killer Joel Cauchi for a mental health assessment a year before the Westfield Bondi Junction tragedy because he was not an “immediate risk” of committing suicide, an inquest has heard.
It comes as it was revealed Cauchi physically assaulted his father and verbally abused his mother after they confiscated his military knives during a dispute at their Toowoomba home in 2023.
The incident prompted Cauchi to call Queensland police, reporting that his father had “stolen” his collection of military knives.
One of the officers who responded to the home said Cauchi appeared calm and engaged during the 40-minute interaction, which was caught on the officer’s body-worn camera.
“He wasn’t dishevelled, wasn’t erratic in his behaviour … wasn’t moving around certainly and wasn’t aggressive,” he said.
“He was quite calm and engaged in conversations quite reasonably.”
The officer said compared to other schizophrenic people he had seen, Cauchi’s behaviour was at the lower end in terms of overall behaviour and demeanour.
Fifteen months later, Cauchi killed six people in a three-minute knife attack inside Westfield Bondi Junction on the afternoon of April 13, 2024, which ended when he was shot dead during a brief stand-off with hero NSW cop Inspector Amy Scott.
Ashlee Good, 38, Dawn Singleton, 25, Jade Young, 47, Yixuan Cheng, 27, Faraz Tahir, 30, and Pikria Darchia, 55 lost their lives to Cauchi’s wanton violence, while a further 10 people, including a young child, were injured.
The inquest has been told Cauchi was “floridly psychotic” at the time, and had been without medication or treatment for his chronic schizophrenia for almost five years.
The court heard despite concerns raised by Cauchi’s parents about his deteriorating mental health during the 2023 interaction with police, the responding officers were powerless to take Cauchi for a mental health assessment due to restrictive Queensland legislation.
The officer said under Queensland health laws, a person can only be taken for a mental health assessment under an emergency examination authority (EEA) if they are presenting as an immediate threat to themselves, namely suicide, or as the result of a major disturbance of the mind.
The officer told the court Cauchi presented as neither of those.
“There’s no allegation he was trying to commit suicide …. [therefore] he didn’t fit the criteria for an EEA,” the officer said.
“Is it enough that his mental health was deteriorating at the time?” Counsel assisting the coroner, Dr Peggy Dwyer SC, asked the officer.
“There’s not enough clarity in the legislation … [but] no, I wouldn’t say it’s enough to meet the threshold.”
He said a risk to others did not form part of the requirements under the legislation.
The officer told the court he was comfortable leaving Cauchi at the house with his parents, given the knives had been removed and Cauchi had made no threats towards them.
However, he said he was sufficiently concerned about Cauchi’s mental state that he sent an email that night to one of the force’s mental health intervention co-ordinators requesting a follow up for the Cauchi family.
The officer said he expected his colleague would carry out the follow up within a few days, however the court heard the email request was ultimately missed and Cauchi’s case went unseen.
CAUCHI ASSAULTED DAD FOR ‘STEALING’ KNIVES
Earlier the inquest heard Cauchi had physically assaulted his father and called his mother a bitch after they confiscated his military knives during a dispute at their Toowoomba home in 2023, an inquest has heard.
When questioned by police about the incident, Cauchi admitted he had “grabbed” his father but claimed he had been “defending” himself.
An inquest into Cauchi’s April 2024 knife rampage at Westfield Bondi Junction, in which he killed six people and wounded 10 more, has been shown almost half an hour of body worn video footage of Cauchi’s interactions with two police officers after he contacted emergency services on January 8, 2023, to report his father had “stolen” his collection of military weapons.
Cauchi, who is dressed in baggy black knee-length shorts, a purple, sleeveless LA Lakers jersey and is carrying a backpack, is seen standing on a wide median strip out the front of his parents home, where he tells a male officer “my dad has taken some my property … it’s pretty expensive … he won’t give it back, he won’t return it”.
Cauchi then goes on to explain the items in question are US army knives.
During the exchange, Cauchi crosses his arms over his chest and crosses his lower leg over the other at one stage, but is otherwise completely coherent and remains calm.
At no stage does he raise his voice or show any signs of aggression, nor does he display any erratic or jerky movement on screen.
Cauchi then tells the officer, who can be seen using a police-issued iPad to search Cauchi’s details in the Queensland police database, that he’s been living in Toowoomba with his parents for about a year after returning from a stint in Brisbane.
Meanwhile, the court heard a second officer — a female — went to speak with Cauchi’s parents.
‘GIVE ME MY KNIVES’
The two officers then spoke for a time out of earshot of both Cauchi and his parents, during which time the female confirmed Cauchi had “laid hands” on his dad.
They also discuss his schizophrenia.
“ … zero meds at all but he was on, like, a significant amount of medication his whole life,” the female officer says.
“He’s a high functioning schizophrenic.”
The officer tells her colleague Cauchi’s parents are concerned his mental health has declined over time, and that they had confiscated the weapons and given them to a family friend for safe keeping.
“Today he has actually laid hands on his hands, like, sort of, ‘give me my knives’,” the female officer said.
She told her colleague Cauchi’s parents had reported that he hadn’t made any threats to harm them, but had been up at 3am the previous morning “pacing around”.
“He’s called his mum a bitch and things like that,” she said.
“I let her know that obviously he’s not said anything that would have us take him away … she’s like yeah he’s not getting his knives because who knows what’s going on, especially if he’s going to lose contact with reality.”
The court has previously heard the officers ultimately decided against removing Cauchi from the home and having him scheduled for a mental health assessment, however one of the officers sent an email to a police internal mental health co-ordinator requesting a follow-up for Cauchi.
Counsel assisting the coroner, Dr Peggy Dwyer SC, said that email was ultimately missed and no follow up occurred.
MISSED MENTAL HEALTH ASSESSMENT EMAIL
Meanwhile Queensland Police missed an internal email requesting Cauchi receive a mental health assessment after an incident at his parents’ house 15 months before his fatal knife rampage at Westfield Bondi Junction.
It comes after it was revealed two officers who interacted with Cauchi in January 2023 — one of whom later made the assessment request, formed the opinion he was mentally “unwell”, but decided against having him taken for an immediate assessment.
The inquest into the frenzied stabbings, now entering its second week, heard Cauchi killed six people in a three-minute knife attack inside the shopping centre on the afternoon of April 13, 2024, which ended when he was shot dead during a brief stand-off with hero NSW cop Inspector Amy Scott.
Ashlee Good, 38, Dawn Singleton, 25, Jade Young, 47, Yixuan Cheng, 27, Faraz Tahir, 30, and Pikria Darchia, 55 lost their lives to Cauchi’s wanton violence, while a further 10 people, including a young child, were injured.
The inquest has been told Cauchi was “floridly psychotic” at the time, and had been without medication or treatment for his chronic schizophrenia for almost five years.
The inquest is set to examine Cauchi’s many interactions with authorities in the years before the Bondi massacre, to see if any opportunities to “reintegrate” him into the Queensland mental health system were missed.
On Monday, the inquest is expected to hear from Queensland Police officers who interacted with Cauchi during the incident at his parents’ house, and who ultimately decided against having him scheduled to hospital for psychiatric assessment.
In her opening address to the NSW Coroners Court last week, counsel assisting the coroner, Dr Peggy Dwyer SC, said Cauchi interactions with police after he ceased using his medication consisted largely of petty crimes including fare evasion and erratic driving, but three stood apart from the rest.
The inquest heard in May 2021, officers responded to reports Cauchi was yelling and screaming inside his unit.
When they arrived, he told them he was angry his fridge was broken, with officers finding no crime had been committed but noting in the police computer system that Cauchi was “a diagnosed schizophrenic who doesn’t take medication”.
The following year he attempted to watch a school swimming carnival, prompting a report to Crimestoppers.
However, Dr Dwyer said his most significant interaction with police came on January 8, 2023, when Cauchi phoned police to report his father Andrew had stolen his collection of military knives.
Dr Dwyer said both Andrew and his wife Michelle reported their son had been making odd noises, slapping his face and banging his feet and appeared to be suffering from auditory hallucinations.
“He really needs to see a doctor but he does not know he’s sick,” Michell told the responding officers.
Dr Dwyer said she expected the inquest would hear Cauchi told the officers he thought he would become broke and end up living on the streets because of his dad confiscating his knives, but could not say why.
“While the evidence in the brief appears to suggest that the Queensland Police officers formed the view that Mr Cauchi was unwell as a result of that interaction, they determined that it wasn’t necessary for them to take immediate steps to have him assessed or arrested, particularly while he was not presenting as a threat to himself or his parents,” Dr Dwyer said.
The court heard one of the officers later sent an email to dedicated mental health police officer, requesting that Cauchi’s case be follow up.
“It appears that the email was missed by a relevant officer who was then acting as the mental health intervention co-ordinator,” Dr Dwyer said.
“The inquest will explore whether the attendance by Queensland Police and the subsequent lack of follow up was a missed opportunity for intervention, which may have resulted in a review by a mental health service and Mr Cauchi being reintroduced into the mental health system.”
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