Watch Bondi killer Joel Cauchi ask police to get his knives back

Body-cam footage of Joel Cauchi being questioned by police 15 months before his murderous rampage through Westfield Bondi Junction has been publicly released.

Body-cam footage of killer Joel Cauchi's being questioned by police 15 months before his murderous rampage through Westfield Bondi Junction has been publicly released for the first time after it was aired at an inquest into the horror attack.

Body-cam footage of killer Joel Cauchi being questioned by police 15 months before his murderous rampage through Westfield Bondi Junction has been publicly released for the first time after it was aired at an inquest into the horror attack.

The one-minute snippet, released by State Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan on Wednesday, shows Cauchi’s interaction with Queensland police senior constables Matthew McDonnell and Hope Porter at the Cauchi family’s Toowoomba home on January 8, 2023 after he phoned emergency services to report the “theft” of the military style knives by his father, Andrew.

The incident, which lasted about 40 minutes, is a key point of examination at the inquest into Cauchi’s three-minute stabbing rampage inside the Sydney shopping centre on April 13, 2024, which claimed the lives of Ashlee Good, 38, Dawn Singleton, 25, Jade Young, 47, Yixuan Cheng, 27, Faraz Tahir, 30, and Pikria Darchia, 55.

Cauchi, who was “floridly psychotic” at the time, was ultimately shot dead by hero NSW cop Inspector Amy Scott.

The 2023 footage shows Cauchi wearing baggy black knee-length shorts, a purple, sleeveless LA Lakers jersey and carrying a backpack as he stands on a wide grassed median strip out the front of his parents’ home.

He tells Const McDonnell “so yeah, um, my dad has taken some of my property. Um, it’s pretty expensive and he won’t give it back. I tried to resolve it, um, and he would not return it and I can’t really afford a replacement.”

Cauchi continues: “And I tried to, to like see if he would, I tried to negotiate a return, but he is not willing. Um, so I just was wondering if you guys can broker it, like see if I can get it returned. Otherwise, um, I’d like to like just …”

Const. McDonnell asked Cauchi “what kind of property are we talking”, to which Cauchi replies “it’s a military, uh, collectors items … there’s a US Kabar, like some sheaths … US knives. So there’s like a US Army knife for three or so.”

The Kabar is the same style of weapon Cauchi used in the Bondi attack.

During the exchange, Cauchi can be seen folding his arms over his chest, palms on elbows, moving his weight from foot to foot, and at one stage crossing his lower leg over the other.

But 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.

Joel Cauchi's father, took his son’s knives from him. Picture: Kevin Farmer

The video shows he is coherent during the exchange and largely remains calm, if a bit fidgety.

Const McDonnell told the inquest this week that Cauchi appeared relatively calm compared to other mental health call outs he’d attended.

The court heard Cauchi appeared preoccupied with the knives and repeatedly requested they be returned. He even spoke of having his father charged with their theft.

The interaction led Const. McDonnell to later tell Const. Porter “he’s got a real hard on for these knives” while the two were speaking out of earshot of Cauchi and discussing what they could do.

The pair ultimately decided they were not legally able to detain Cauchi for an emergency mental health assessment under Queensland law because he was not at immediate risk of suicide or self harm.

Multiple Queensland officers have told the inquest they would support a broadening of the legislation to give them greater powers to have someone scheduled for assessment.

The court also released a four minute video of Cauchi’s interaction with a highway patrol officer in September 2021, when he was pulled over for erratic driving.

In the footage, Cauchi can be seen fidgeting, crossing his arm and at times avoiding eye contact, but is otherwise generally compliant.

The court heard the officer noted Cauchi had an ‘M’ notation on his driver’s licence, which denotes a medical condition, and asked Cauchi to produce the mandatory medical certificate required for him to be behind the wheel.

Bondi stabbing victims, top form left: Dawn Singleton, Ashlee Good and Cheng Yixuan, and bottom, from left: Faraz Ahmed Tahir, Jade Young and Pikria Darchia

He then asked Cauchi what his medical condition was, to which Cauchi replied “a whole heap of mental illness”.

Cauchi was subject to a drug test which returned a negative reading.

The officer wrote in his notes that Cauchi appeared “erratic and nervous” during the interaction, but the officer told the court he didn’t immediately draw a conclusion it was because of his mental illness.

He said he saw a lot of drivers display similar behaviours when stopped by police.

“I attributed some of [his] behaviour to being pulled over and caught [by police],” he said.

The court heard Cauchi had been stopped twice in the previous year for similar driving behaviour, with one officer noting that Cauchi told them he was a diagnosed schizophrenic but had not been taking medication.

The officer said he was not aware of that pattern of behaviour when he stopped Cauchi, and had he known that information, “I would have looked into it a bit deeper”.