Painful moment Cauchi family knew son Joel Cauchi was a murderer
Five weeks before killing six innocent people in Bondi Junction Westfield, murderer Joel Cauchi sent his concerned mum a video message.
The grieving parents of mass murderer Joel Cauchi have opened up about the tragic final video message they received from their son.
“Mum, I just want to show you how beautiful Coogee Beach [is],” the 40-year-old wrote, along with a video selfie of himself at the iconic Sydney beach.
Parents Andrew and Michele Cauchi, who are in their 70s and live in Toowoomba, told the ABC they had been worried about his wellbeing until they received the message.
It had offered them a sense of relief.
They had no idea their son, who had suffered with schizophrenia for all of his adult life, was teetering on the edge.
Mrs Cauchi told the publication she’d called Joel’s bank earlier that same day after the couple had lost contact with their 40-year-old son.
“I don’t want to know what’s in his account. I just want to know my son’s still alive. Is he still using his account?” she said.
The video message was the last time they saw their son until five weeks later when he went on a murderous rampage inside Bondi Junction Westfield.
They contacted police after realising the man on their TV screen, shot dead by police after killing six strangers and injuring many more in a stabbing frenzy, was their son.
“I walked in, and my wife said, ‘It looks like Joel’. I said, ‘It does a bit’, but he had his head down,” Mr Cauchi said.
“So I watched and watched and watched.”
On Sunday morning, well after the Cauchis had contacted New South Wales Police, Joel was identified as the killer.
Trialling life unmedicated
The Cauchis further revealed their son had stopped mental health medication after 18 years of treatment in 2019 when he moved to Brisbane.
“When he came off [the medication], it was like it had all lifted from him and he wanted to have a life,” she said.
“After living at home until he was 35, he went to Brisbane, so he wasn’t with his doctor anymore.”
According to his parents, Joel was an excellent student during school and university, graduating from the University of Southern Queensland in 2012 with a Bachelor of Arts in international relations and culture and language.
His father described Joel’s decision to end medical treatment as a ‘trial’, detailing his embarrassment regarding his mental health.
“He didn’t want anyone knowing he has got a mental illness,” Mr Cauchi said.
“He was embarrassed when I said anything about it and he bolted off to Brisbane and he got a life.”
After leaving home, Joel moved between Brisbane, Toowoomba and the Gold Coast, sporadically rough at times.
The founder of Toowoomba homeless outreach organisation Tony’s Kitchen, told ABC Joel would sometimes sleep rough in a hospital car park.
“We never had any issues with him. He was always polite,” charity founder Tony Hurle said.
“He was very softly spoken from memory. We only knew him as Joel.”
Joel Cauchi’s return to Toowoomba
Mr Cauchi brought his son home from Brisbane in January 2023 after Joel called to inform his family he had lost his Brisbane rental.
Issues soon arose after Mr Cauchi refused to allow his son’s six United States Army combat knives in the house.
“I said to Joel, ‘You can stay here as long as you like, but you are not going to have these in my house’ and so I took them off him, knowing that there was going to be pandemonium in my house but I was willing to put up with it,” Mr Cauchi said.
Joel called the police on his family, complaining they had stolen his knives before driving to Tweed Heads the following day to buy himself more.
As police continue to search for a motive behind the Bondi attack, his distraught parents have apologised for their son’s actions on numerous occasions, both through the media and a public statement.
Dating a mass murderer
This week, Mr Cauchi detailed his son’s frustrations with finding love.
When asked if there was any reason his son may have targeted women as has been suggested earlier this week, Mr Cauchi told reporters: “Yes, because he wanted a girlfriend and he has no social skills and he was frustrated out of his brain.”
Further coverage of Joel’s background paints a picture of a serial dater, with most women speaking fondly of their experiences with him.
One such woman was Toowoomba’s Josephine Everson, who dated Joel in mid-2019 when she had just turned 18.
Despite a significant age gap, she described “perfect” dates with the now-dead mass murderer.
“Everything was perfect. He was the most kind and sweetest person I had met,” Ms Everson told the ABC.
“He was a fun and kind person.”
Joel even met Ms Everson’s family, and according to Ms Everson, he was “respectful towards them [my parents] and my brothers.”
Ms Everson said Joel never spoke of his mental illness, and after trying to date long distance when he moved to Brisbane that year, the two eventually drifted apart.
Others to have dated him described him as a “lovely guy”, with most expressing shock to learn of his actions over the weekend.
Subsequent reporting following the Saturday mass stabbing shows Joel was prolific on dating apps, with profiles also surfacing on male escort sites.
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