Killer's mum pleaded for help, but dad haunted by ‘demons' too, Bondi Junction stabbing inquest told
He was on a second smaller dose of Abilify, a second medication used to treat his obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Cauchi was diligent with his medication and he never missed appointments. The nurse said the man was anxious about 'relapsing' into illness.
'He didn't want to get unwell, and he was very conscientious,' the nurse said.
'He had anxiety around it. He wanted to get support and make sure he did the right thing.'
The nurse was monitoring Cauchi as the centre slightly reduced his Clopine dose around 2016-17.
Cauchi was feeling better physically and mentally, and noticed boosted energy levels and improved capacity to study, the nurse told the court. He reported no hallucinations or violent tendencies.
Cauchi, under the care of his psychiatrist at the same centre, completely came off Clopine in mid-2018. He began refusing to take Abilify in June 2019.
Both nurses who gave evidence on Monday said they had never seen a patient go off Clopine and not transition to a replacement anti-psychotic.
But Cauchi, by late 2019, was completely unmedicated for the first time in 15 years.
Just weeks later, however, Cauchi's mother contacted the centre and said her son's behaviour was changing in terrifying ways.
'I know you thought that it wasn't having any effect, but I have noticed a gradual decline in his condition,' Michele Cauchi wrote in November 2019.
'I have a feeling he is now hearing voices.
'I would hate to see him have to go back into hospital after 20 years of being stable on medication. I would love to see him being able to live successfully, independently, and doing as well as he was a year ago when he first moved out of home.'
Over the phone, Michele Cauchi told one of the centre's nurses that her son's notes said he was 'under Satanic control from religious beings'.
Further, he was showering compulsively, had taken on a strange 'gait', and was wearing layers of clothing to stop himself getting sick.
Cauchi was also fixated on pornography, and emailed the centre asking if they could help him get a phone or internet provider that would prevent him from accessing pornography.
The following day, on November 21, 2019, Cauchi's nurse spoke to Joel's father, Andrew, over the phone.
A clinical note, detailing their conversation, shows Andrew Cauchi did not want his son to go back on the medicine.
'Information given to his father, who became adamant that he did not want his son to go on medication as it will kill him,' the note reads.
'Father spoke that he himself had been traumatised by demons when awake and hears voices and is not on medication.'
The Cauchi family are very religious, and the inquest has heard Andrew Cauchi has mental health problems.
The doctors and nurses treating Cauchi urged him to go back on medication, but he did not want to.
In February 2020, Cauchi was preparing to move to Brisbane. It would have taken him far from his family and Toowoomba.
Cauchi's worried mother called again, telling centre that her son's unit was filthy, he was uncharacteristically swearing, and she feared he would become homeless if he moved to Brisbane.
But one month later, in March, Cauchi was discharged and was out on his own and no one had the power to force him back onto his medication, the inquest heard.
'Don't you think the clinic should have followed up with Joel after March 2020 to ensure he found a new psychiatrist?' barrister for some of the victims' families, Sue Chrysanthou, SC, asked one nurse.
'That would have been ideal,' the nurse said.
Cauchi could not be forcefully medicated unless detained under the Mental Health Act. That could happen only if he posed an imminent threat to himself, the inquest has heard.
'It's not something Joel could have been forced to do. His rights are taken into consideration,' one nurse told the inquest on Monday.
Cauchi, in 2020, had multiple run-ins with police and his parents, including over a growing fixation he developed for military knives.
By March 2024, the fears of Cauchi's mother had borne out; he was homeless and sleeping on a beach in Sydney.
One month later, he would take one of his large military knives and kill six people in Bondi Junction Westfield before being shot dead by a NSW Police inspector.
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