00:00Week 2 of this five-week long coronial inquest is focusing on Queensland Police's interactions
00:09with Joel Couchy in the years leading up to the Bondi Junction Westfield stabbing attack
00:14where Couchy killed six people and injured ten others in April last year.
00:20Now, today a Queensland Police officer has given evidence to the inquest
00:25speaking about an incident in January of 2023 where he was called to Couchy's family home
00:32where Joel Couchy had actually reported his own father for taking away his collection of knives.
00:38Now, the inquest heard the father had taken those knives away
00:42because he had become increasingly concerned with the decline in his own son's mental health
00:48and that was due to the fact that his son had stopped taking schizophrenia medication for at least five years
00:54and he became concerned because his son was awake at around 3am in the morning
00:59banging on doors and complaining about his knives going missing.
01:04We heard in the inquest today that Joel Couchy had called police himself to report his own father
01:10and when they came to speak to him police officers say he was behaving somewhat calm
01:15and didn't seem to be too erratic but they said they were somewhat concerned with his fixation on those knives.
01:21He said there was some sort of physical altercation between Couchy and his father
01:26but after learning that the parents were happy for him to stay there that night
01:31and that they just wanted him to get some help
01:33they left that situation and had made that referral to a mental health service
01:38to make sure that they checked up on Couchy in the future.
01:41Now, we heard today from the inquest that that was never followed up on
01:45and for some reason that email never got to the mental health service.
01:49We also heard before that incident in January 2023
01:53Couchy had been pulled over at least three times in late 2022
01:58and early 2021 for erratic driving
02:01and there was another incident as well where police were called to a unit in Brisbane
02:06where Couchy was heard screaming and banging on a door.
02:11It's understood that he was slamming a fridge door shut at the time.
02:15Now, the officer who attended that family home in January 2023 says he was not aware
02:21of any of those incidents when he arrived at the scene
02:24but he says he did have on file that Couchy had a weapons licence
02:29which did cause him some concern at the time.
02:32We're due to hear more evidence from Queensland police as the day goes on
02:36and into this week.
02:38He was also asked about whether there was any missed opportunities
02:41to address Joel Couchy's mental health.
02:43The Queensland police officer whose name cannot be revealed for legal reasons
02:47says he believes there was a missed opportunity
02:50if his email to that mental health service had been referred
02:53and Joel Couchy was followed up on.
