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7NEWS
07-05-2025
- 7NEWS
Bondi attacker Joel Cauchi heard for first time in police bodycam footage before deadly stabbing rampage
The Bondi attacker, Joel Cauchi, has been heard for the first time in newly released police body-cam footage showing a troubling interaction with officers before the deadly rampage. The 40-year-old armed himself with a 30cm knife and carried out an unprovoked attack at Sydney's Bondi Junction Westfield on April 13, 2024, killing six people and injuring 10 others. The footage, released by Queensland Police on Wednesday, shows Cauchi demanding the return of his knife collection on January 8, 2023, more than a year before his move to Sydney. At the time, he was living with his parents at their family home in Toowoomba, near Brisbane, and had called police after his father confiscated the knives. 'My dad has taken some of my property — it's pretty expensive,' Cauchi tells officers in the footage. He described the items to Senior Constable Matthew McDonald and Constable Hope Porter as 'military collectibles', including a USMC Ka-Bar knife — the same type used in the Bondi rampage. Cauchi had been diagnosed with schizophrenia as a teenager, and his parents had confiscated the knives out of concern for his deteriorating mental health. His mother Michele told officers her son was a different person when medicated, but he had stopped taking his medication in 2019 and stopped seeing a psychiatrist in 2020. 'My son's got schizophrenia, he's really not well. He needs help. A couple of years ago he was at university, at the top of the class,' Michele said. Police didn't take further action that day, but later that night, they emailed a Queensland Police Service mental health intervention coordinator (MHIC). The email described Cauchi as fidgety and fixated on retrieving his knives, and recommended a mental health follow-up. However, the email was overlooked, and no action was taken. Cauchi also appeared in more bodycam footage from September 2021, when he was pulled over for driving erratically in Brisbane. The highway patrol officer described his driving as 'very erratic' and 'unsafe.' During the stop, Cauchi handed over his licence and told the officer he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and was not taking medication at the time. Ashlee Good, Yixuan Cheng, Pikria Darchia, Dawn Singleton, Jade Young, and Faraz Tahir were all killed in the stabbing attack, and 10 others were injured, including a nine-month-old baby. NSW Police Inspector Amy Scott ended the attack by fatally shooting Cauchi. By this time, Cauchi was no longer living with his parents, he was homeless, 'floridly psychotic' and 'completely detached from the mental health system,' the court heard. Police seized his phone after the incident, uncovering web searches that displayed a preoccupation with killing, serial killers, weapons and death since at least 2022. Improving mental health treatment and responses is expected to be a major recommendation by the Coroner.
Sydney Morning Herald
07-05-2025
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘It's a really nice knife': Bondi Junction killer's voice heard for first time
The voice and words of Bondi Junction Westfield mass killer Joel Cauchi have been heard in public for the first time, a year since he took six lives and was shot dead by a heroic police officer. The recordings, made 15 months before the stabbing attack, captured a 'missed opportunity' to intervene in Cauchi's psychological deterioration, despite the desperate attempts of his loving mother and police to get him help. The 40 year-old was living with schizophrenia and unmedicated for years before he walked into Bondi Junction Westfield armed with a USMC Ka-Bar knife and began stabbing innocent shoppers in April 2024. A coronial inquest into the mass casualty event has reconvened for a second week of hearings focusing on interactions Cauchi had with police in his home state of Queensland. Body-worn videos captured by QPS officers are the very first public record of Cauchi speaking in his own words. Queensland Police Senior Constable Matthew McDonald and his partner Constable Hope Porter were called to the Cauchi family home in Toowoomba at dusk in January 2023. Body-worn video from both officers, played in the inquest, began with a fidgety Cauchi in a purple LA Lakers jersey on the nature strip outside the weatherboard house. Cauchi had called the police himself, saying his father had taken away his 'military collectibles', including a USMC Ka-Bar knife.
The Age
07-05-2025
- The Age
‘It's a really nice knife': Bondi Junction killer's voice heard for first time
The voice and words of Bondi Junction Westfield mass killer Joel Cauchi have been heard in public for the first time, a year since he took six lives and was shot dead by a heroic police officer. The recordings, made 15 months before the stabbing attack, captured a 'missed opportunity' to intervene in Cauchi's psychological deterioration, despite the desperate attempts of his loving mother and police to get him help. The 40 year-old was living with schizophrenia and unmedicated for years before he walked into Bondi Junction Westfield armed with a USMC Ka-Bar knife and began stabbing innocent shoppers in April 2024. A coronial inquest into the mass casualty event has reconvened for a second week of hearings focusing on interactions Cauchi had with police in his home state of Queensland. Body-worn videos captured by QPS officers are the very first public record of Cauchi speaking in his own words. Queensland Police Senior Constable Matthew McDonald and his partner Constable Hope Porter were called to the Cauchi family home in Toowoomba at dusk in January 2023. Body-worn video from both officers, played in the inquest, began with a fidgety Cauchi in a purple LA Lakers jersey on the nature strip outside the weatherboard house. Cauchi had called the police himself, saying his father had taken away his 'military collectibles', including a USMC Ka-Bar knife.
