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.
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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.