Psychiatrist of Bondi attacker questioned about conflicting statements, asserts honesty in court

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The former psychiatrist who treated the Bondi Junction stabber for eight years until 2020 has been grilled as a coroner’s court seeks to determine whether failings in his mental health care led to his murderous rampage.

Joel Cauchi, 40, had armed himself with a knife when he fatally stabbed six shoppers at Sydney’s Westfield Bondi Junction and injured 10 others in April 2024. Cauchi was shot dead at the scene by a police officer.

The inquest, now in its third week, is examining Cauchi’s treatment for schizophrenia, which he developed at 17 years old.

The court heard the condition was managed successfully for 20 years on a medication used as a last resort for “treatment-resistant schizophrenia”.

The decision to wean Cauchi off all antipsychotic medication by mid-2019 has been the subject of fierce scrutiny.

This week, testimony has focused on the staff from a private mental health clinic in regional Queensland — two nurses and his former psychiatrist, known as Dr A — who were involved in Cauchi’s care between 2012 and 2020.

Two women and two children who are about to lay flowers at a memorial.

Members of the public laying flowers at the first anniversary of the Westfield Bondi Junction stabbing in April 2025. Source: AAP / Dean Lewins

On Tuesday, Dr A gave her opinion about the motive behind his attack.

This contradicted expert evidence, that Cauchi was “floridly psychotic” during the attack, and the police investigation — with the officer-in-charge having previously told the coroner that there was no suggestion he had targeted women during the stabbing spree.

“I honestly believe that it was nothing to do with psychosis, I think it might have been due to his frustration, sexual frustration, pornography and hatred towards women,” Dr A said on Tuesday.

“[It is a] highly organised behaviour to kill six people, injure 10, he has to be very organised. And at the time when he was psychotic [at age 17], he was so disorganised that he couldn’t put two words together. He had to go to hospital.”

She also said she didn’t think it would have made a difference if he had been on medication at the time.

But under cross-examination on Wednesday, she withdrew her statements.

“It was conjecture on my part, and I shouldn’t have done that, I shouldn’t have speculated,” she said.

Sue Chrysanthou SC, representing the families of three of Cauchi’s victims — Ashlee Good, Jade Young and Dawn Singleton — said the statement “was contrary to the expert evidence” that it “caused great distress” and “was shocking evidence to me and my clients”.

Inconsistencies emerge

Dr A became exasperated during cross-examination on Wednesday about Cauchi’s medication and dosage, saying to Chrysanthou: “I don’t think you have a degree in medicine”.

Dr A said she “did not fail” in her treatment of Cauchi but inconsistencies in her testimony have caused frustration with legal counsel.

Chrysanthou questioned why Dr A insisted Cauchi had “long first episode treatment-resistant schizophrenia” rather than the chronic form documented in his clinical notes.

The court heard shortly after Cauchi came off all antipsychotic medications, his mother began regularly reporting concerns of a relapse.

The clinic’s records tendered to the inquiry show Michele Cauchi saying her son’s “flat is a mess”, “his self-care is poor … he appears more isolated and irritable”, and said she was worried “he may become homeless” if he moved to Brisbane.

The records also show she said he son “isn’t doing very well” after ceasing medication and “judging from notes on paper he has left around the place in the past week I have a feeling he is now hearing voices”.

Sue Chrysanthou SC is representing the families of three of Joel Cauchi’s victims. Source: AAP / Steven Markham

Chrysanthou also raised the presence of “satanic material” in Cauchi’s handwritten notes found in his house, to which Dr A responded that the content stemmed from Cauchi’s “tormented mental state about sex and pornography”.

“He had this dangerous sexual encounter [with a sex worker] and was worried he may have contracted HIV,” Dr A said, insisting that Cauchi’s fears were “reality-based” rather than signs of psychosis.

The court heard Cauchi had emailed the clinic requesting “a porn free phone”, reflecting distress over his pornography use. Before going off medication, he had reportedly been “very compliant”, “frightened of relapse”, and was described as “highly intelligent” and “extremely academically ambitious”, completing several language degrees.

In 2016, a note from Dr A recorded Cauchi’s aspirations: “[Cauchi] spoke about the goal of becoming a Chinese language interpreter then marrying a nice girl, buying a house and working, and to work and live well.”

The court heard Dr A prescribed one of the medications Cauchi had previously taken, given his signs of deterioration, but that he did not fill the prescription as he wished to stay off medication due to adverse side effects.

On Monday, both registered nurses who treated Cauchi said they were shocked to learn what he had done, and on Tuesday, Dr A said: “I offer my sincere apologies that this tragedy has happened”.

Referral

Dr A ceased seeing Cauchi in March 2020 due to being ineligible for government rebates to treat him after he moved to Brisbane.

Dr A’s discharge letter to a local GP advised a referral to a psychiatrist “if required’, but made no mention of relapse warnings from his mother or a need for ongoing psychiatric care. Dr A said she followed up her letter with a phone call.

The GP’s legal representative, Ragni Mathur SC, disputed Dr A’s account, stating her client was not Cauchi’s “family GP” and “does not accept that there was a phone call”.

Dr A’s own barrister, Mark Lynch, pressed her about the accuracy of her recollections. Dr A replied: “I wouldn’t lie.”

By mid-2020, Cauchi had disengaged from the mental health system.

He became homeless when he moved to Sydney in early 2024, before carrying out the fatal attack, during which he was shot dead by police.

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