The inquest into the fatal stabbing attack at Bondi Junction Westfield in April last year has heard about Joel Cauchi's efforts to get a gun licence several years before the stabbings. The court heard Cauchi received a letter of support from a psychiatrist when he lived in Brisbane but never followed up on obtaining a licence.
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00:00This coronial inquest has been looking into Joel Couchy's previous interactions with
00:06psychiatrists in the years leading up to the Bondi Junction stabbing attacks where he killed
00:12six people and injured ten in April last year. Now today the inquest heard that Joel Couchy had
00:19made at least two attempts to receive a mental health review in the hopes of gaining a gun
00:25license. The inquest heard that took place in Brisbane when he moved there after 2020. The
00:31court was told that the first psychiatrist he saw actually denied that application and actually asked
00:37for some more clinical notes from his previous psychiatrist who actually weaned him off his
00:42schizophrenia medication in Toowoomba. The inquest previously heard that that former psychiatrist
00:48of Joel Couchy did not give all the clinical notes that she had from his eight years with her
00:54and instead just gave her gave that psychiatrist the last three appointments that Couchy had with
01:01her. Now after he refused Joel Couchy's request today we heard that Couchy went to another psychiatrist
01:08in Brisbane in 2021. Now after a one-hour appointment and a mental health review we heard that psychiatrist
01:16assessed Joel Couchy to be of a good stable mental state and thought he was not a risk to himself or
01:24others. So after a conversation with him he decided that he would provide a letter of support to
01:29Queensland police for Joel Couchy to be eligible to hold a gun license. The inquest heard today that
01:36Joel Couchy told that psychiatrist that he had been off his anti-psychotic medication for a number of
01:44years and was only required to take it for two years. But shortly afterwards the psychiatrist said that
01:50he checked in with his former psychiatrist in Toowoomba and found that he had actually been on that
01:55medication for at least 15 years. He accepted today that that was a red flag. Nevertheless he still sent
02:01two letters of support to Queensland police for Joel Couchy to be eligible for a gun license and he wanted
02:09that gun license because he wanted to practice target shooting at a local shooting range in Brisbane.
02:17We heard earlier in this inquest in the opening remarks that Couchy never ended up following
02:23through with that gun license but in the years following that interaction with that psychiatrist
02:28the inquest heard he had made a number of concerning searches on his phones which displayed a preoccupation
02:36with mass killings and violence. Of course this would end up being Joel Couchy's last psychiatric
02:42check-up before the events of April last year where he killed six people and injured 10 at Bondi Junction Westfield.
02:49Thank you very much for your attention Westfield.