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  • 5/18/2025
Joel Cauchi’s former psychiatrist in Queensland has told an inquest in Sydney that she made no mistake in taking the schizophrenic patient off all forms of anti-psychotic medication. She told the court she does not believe Cauchi was suffering psychosis when he killed six people at Westfield Bondi Junction last year. Instead, she argued that his stabbing rampage may have been the result of his sexual frustrations and a hatred towards women.

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00:00From 2012 to 2020, she was Joel Couchy's primary psychiatrist.
00:07Referred to as Dr A, today she apologised to the victims of her former patient,
00:13but told the court she was not responsible for his actions.
00:18I did not fail in my care of Joel. I have no error on my behalf.
00:23The inquest heard when Couchy joined her private clinic.
00:26Dr A continued to lower his schizophrenia medication over several years.
00:31Clinical notes showed Couchy felt gradually happier and less sedated.
00:36The inquest heard by 2019 he wasn't taking any type of antipsychotic drug.
00:42I gave him the leave to choose what he wants to do, but always assured him that I was there.
00:48The court heard over the next few months her clinic received several reports
00:53around concerns for Couchy's deteriorating health.
00:56Most from his mother, who said her son was writing about being under satanic control
01:02and was obsessing over pornography.
01:05She is a beautiful mother, but she is not a psychiatrist.
01:09Despite accepting these could have been early warning signs of relapse,
01:13the psychiatrist told the inquest Couchy was never psychotic under her care,
01:18and she didn't believe he was during the deadly attack last year.
01:23The doctor refuted other expert evidence.
01:26She told the court that given the amount of planning needed,
01:29Couchy might not have been psychotic when he killed six people at Bondi Junction
01:34four years after she had last spoken with him.
01:38I honestly believe that it was nothing to do with psychosis.
01:42It might have been due to his sexual frustrations, pornography and hatred towards women.
01:48The inquest heard Couchy was discharged from her clinic when he moved to Brisbane in 2020.
01:54She said in her view, putting Couchy back on his medication wouldn't have made a difference.
02:00She will continue her evidence tomorrow.
02:03She's heart.
02:04She will continue.
02:05She is a cause of my suicide.
02:06She is a padre's pain.
02:07She will continue her Standardsredit.

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