Bondi attacker’s psychiatrist backflips over ‘woman hater’ claim

Joel Cauchi’s long-term psychiatrist has backflipped on her claim he was not psychotic during the Westfield Bondi Junction attack and said her evidence about his “hatred of women” was merely “conjecture”.

The reversal came as a coronial inquest heard the psychiatrist did not pass on records about Cauchi’s deteriorating mental state, including “satanic” notes and hallucinations, to his other doctors.

Joel Cauchi had serious mental health issues for more than 20 years, the court heard.Credit: Facebook

The Toowoomba private psychiatrist, who can only be known as Dr A for legal reasons, told the NSW Coroner she had weaned Cauchi off antipsychotics by 2019 because she was “listening to her patient” and was confident he was not slipping back into psychosis.

A panel of experts has unanimously concluded Cauchi’s mental state deteriorated quickly after he ended his medication and he was “floridly” psychotic, unmedicated, homeless and obsessed with serial killers by the time of his attack on April 13, 2024.

However, Dr A disagreed and told the court Cauchi would have needed to be “very organised to kill six people, injure 10” in such a way.

“That was nothing to do with psychosis. He couldn’t have organised himself to do what he did. I think it might have been due to his sexual frustration, pornography and hatred towards women,” Dr A said on Tuesday.

Barrister Sue Chrysanthou, SC, said it was “shocking evidence” to her clients, the families of Dawn Singleton, Ash Good and Jade Young, who all died in Cauchi’s attack.

Dr A, in a fiery exchange with Chrysanthou, withdrew her claims on Wednesday.

“I don’t have evidence – it was conjecture on my part and I shouldn’t have said that,” Dr A said. “I shouldn’t have speculated all the years later after I completed his treatment.”

Sue Chrysanthou is representing the families of Dawn Singleton, Ash Good and Jade Young.Credit: Kate Geraghty

Within months of ceasing his antipsychotics in 2019, Cauchi’s mother, Michele, began raising the alarm with Dr A’s clinic about her son’s strange behaviour. She made seven attempts to raise concerns, according to clinical notes.

The inquest has heard Cauchi was scrawling countless messages about “satanic control”, obsessed with pornography and showering compulsively.

His mother felt he was hearing voices, but Dr A has consistently denied they were warning signs of psychosis.

“Is hearing voices a sign of psychosis?” Chrysanthou asked.

“Yes, if it was evidenced, but there was no evidence … She didn’t even live with him – it’s just an opinion of the mother,” Dr A said.

CCTV footage of Joel Cauchi at Westfield Bondi Junction.

Cauchi was ultimately discharged from the private clinic in 2020 at the same time he moved to Brisbane.

Dr A had one final telehealth session with Cauchi, but it was cancelled because he had tech issues with Skype and Medicare would not cover the session.

“The government removed the rebate from the telehealth appointment. I’m a private psychiatrist,” Dr A told the court.

The psychiatrist said she desperately wanted to keep Cauchi in her care and wanted him to return to her clinic.

But, unless he was a risk to himself or others, she could not invoke the Public Health Act to forcibly medicate him.

The powers, or lack thereof, of the Mental Health Act in Queensland will be key to the inquest’s findings. Both police and medical professionals were unable to force Cauchi into care.

“My responsibility is not to medicate the person that doesn’t have psychosis,” Dr A told the court.

Cauchi floated in and out of Toowoomba, where his parents lived, but enrolled with a new medical centre in Brisbane. That centre requested the “medical summary” and “all clinical notes” from Dr A, but she did not pass them on.

Chrysanthou said it was “a failing” on Dr A’s part. The new doctors did not know she felt Cauchi needed monthly monitoring. They also did not know about the concerns raised in the months prior.

“What was the use of a new doctor who didn’t know his 20-year history because you didn’t hand over the notes?” Chrysanthou asked.

Dr A said she handed over four recent documents and letters, which was standard practice.

“If they wanted to have anything more, they can call me, they can ring me,” Dr A said.

“We don’t send patients’ clinical notes with private psychiatrists. They have to specifically ask for the whole file to be transferred. Nobody wants the whole file to be transferred … This is [accepted] within psychiatric circles. Some psychiatrists just give the last letter.”

Dr A, at the end of her evidence on Wednesday, broke down in tears and was comforted in the witness box by her lawyer.

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