Coronial Inquest Into Bondi Junction Stabbing Continues

A coronial inquest into last year’s Bondi Junction stabbing is continuing in Sydney today, with the failures of the mental health system emerging as a central theme of the proceedings.

Joel Cauchi, 40, stabbed 16 people with a Ka-Bar USMC military knife during an attack at Bondi Junction Westfield on April 13 2024, killing six.

He was shot dead by Police Inspector Amy Scott only minutes after the attacks began, who was awarded with the Commissioner’s Valour Award for her efforts in preventing further killings.

“I actually felt nauseous as I ran in, because in my head I’d resigned myself to the fact that I was probably going to die,” Scott told the inquiry on Tuesday morning.

The inquiry has heard of Cauchi’s “preoccupation with death and murder”, with Counsel Assisting the Coroner Peggy Dwyer SC telling the inquest that police searches of his phone had unearthed evidence of “rudimentary planning” of the attack.

“Mr Cauchi was preoccupied with weapons, with violence and with mass killing,” she said on Monday.

“There were bookmark pages on serial killers, searches containing mass stabbing incidents in Australia and searches in relation to serial killers.”

On the day of the attack, Cuchi had searched for information on the 1999 Columbine High School shooting.

Cauchi “seriously unwell” and “floridly psychotic” during attack

The mental health system has been criticised for failing to support Cauchi, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia as a teenager, a condition that had worsened in recent years.

The 40-year-old had stopped his medication on the advice of his psychiatrists in Queensland about five years before the attack, and was told to “self determine” whether to take it again.

Queensland police were called to the Cauchi family’s Toowoomba house in late 2023, after his father confiscated his son’s knives. Police heard Cauchi had been experiencing night terrors and hallucinations, but were unsure whether they had the power to section him.

“It is important to learn from this catastrophic event, as I’ve already touched on, Mr Cauchi’s mental health treatment in Queensland is a very important topic,” Dr Dwyer said.

Cauchi had been experiencing homelessness in Sydney in 2024, away from the support of his parents and the mental health system.

Psychiatric evidence was “clear and unanimous that Mr Joel Cauchi was floridly psychotic” on the day of the attack.

“What these records unequivocally show is a man who was seriously unwell,” said Dr Dwyer.

The hearing is scheduled to run until May 30, and will hear oral evidence from 40 witnesses, including psychiatric experts rom overseas.

“Our ultimate hope … is to provide much-needed answers about how the tragic events of April 13, 2024 occurred and how such events can be prevented in the future,” Dr Dwyer said.