Queensland police officers give evidence about interactions with Bondi Junction attacker

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Queensland police officers who had previous interactions with Bondi Junction killer Joel Cauchi have given evidence at the coronial inquest into the shopping centre stabbing attack.

Transcript

00:00G'day Joe. Well today was all about scrutinising Queensland Police's previous interactions with

00:08Joel Couchy in the years leading up to the Bondi Junction stabbing attack where Joel Couchy killed

00:15six people and injured 10 in April 2024. Now the inquest went through a number of interactions

00:23with Couchy and Queensland Police. Three of those were traffic stops where Couchy was pulled over

00:29for the same reason which was erratic driving. There was another incident in 2022 where police say

00:35they were called to his unit in Brisbane after neighbours had reported a man screaming and then

00:41there was an incident which was scrutinised for the most amount of time today which took place

00:46on January 2023 and that's when Joel Couchy himself had actually called Queensland Police to his family

00:54home in Toowoomba. He had reported his father for confiscating what he described as a collection

01:00of US military knives and he was frustrated by this and wanted to make a report of theft. Now when

01:07officers arrived we actually got to see that moment here in the coronial inquest. The body-worn video was

01:13played in court today. You can see police officers interacting with Couchy. They said he interacted

01:19with them in a calm and non-aggressive demeanour which didn't have them thinking he was any risk to

01:26himself or others but there was a level of concern just how fixated he was on those knives and wanting

01:33to get them back but he explained that fixation and the idea that he was worried he was going to be

01:38bankrupt. There was another body-worn video played today. That was the interaction between a police

01:44officer and his mother at the same time questioning her about why they were responding to this call.

01:50The mother told that officer that her son needed help. She wanted him to go to hospital and said that

01:56he had been weaned off his schizophrenia medication in the years leading up to that call out and she said

02:01he had become more aggressive in his behaviour and it actually pushed his father for the first time

02:07after he learned that his knives had been taken away from him. Now Queensland police officers who

02:13attended that scene we heard at the inquest today did not take him into custody and rather treated this

02:18as a domestic violence incident and said because they didn't see any risk to him or him others they

02:25simply left a note and sent an email to Queensland Police Mental Health Unit who didn't end up following

02:31up with that email because we heard today that they were caught up with another job. In that email they

02:37recommended a follow-up with Couchy and what was described as a potential missed opportunity to

02:42reconnect Joel Couchy with the mental health system Joe. And what other evidence is set to be heard this

02:48week? We're expected to hear from more Queensland police officers and those interactions with Joel

02:57Couchy into the week we're also expected to hear from Centre Group which is the company which runs

03:04Westfield particularly focusing on their security security response in the aftermath of the stabbing

03:10attack and after Joel Couchy was shot dead by New South Wales Police Inspector Amy Scott and then moving

03:17forward into what is a five-week long coronial inquest we'll also hear about what was discussed today

03:23in the decisions made by Joel Couchy's psychiatrist to wean him off his schizophrenia medication and

03:29possibly some of the concerns raised by his mother in that body-worn video which was played in court today Joe.

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