The Queensland police service has faced scrutiny at the coronial inquest investigating the Bondi Junction stabbing attack. The inquest has heard of Joel Cauchi's deteriorating mental health in the lead up to the shopping centre attack.
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00:01For a second day in a row, this coronial inquest has heavily scrutinised Queensland Police's
00:07multiple interactions with Joel Couchy in the years leading up to the Bondi Junction
00:13Westfield attack where Couchy killed six people and injured ten others in a stabbing rampage
00:20which lasted at least six minutes.
00:22That was before he was shot dead by New South Wales Police Inspector Amy Scott.
00:27Now the incident in particular which has been the main focus of the last two days
00:32is when Queensland Police were called to Couchy's family home in Toowoomba in January 2023
00:39and they were called there by Couchy himself.
00:42He reported his own father for confiscating his collection of large hunting knives.
00:48Now when police officers arrived they realised that they had been called to a mental health situation
00:54and they were trying to help Couchy deal with the fact that his family were concerned
00:59with him having his knives and his deteriorating mental health.
01:03The inquest heard that his mother was concerned that he had been taking off his schizophrenia medication
01:09and wasn't acting like his usual self.
01:12Now today the inquest looked at what could have been done differently in that situation.
01:16We heard from the officers who attended that scene that they didn't believe there was enough evidence
01:21to take Couchy under emergency examination authority which would have seen him go to hospital
01:27or being treated by a mental health clinician.
01:30Because under the legislation in Queensland you need to pose a risk to yourself or others to meet that threshold.
01:38We heard from multiple police officers today who described the wording of that legislation as ambiguous
01:43and they believe it could be changed.
01:46Another issue which arose today was the email that was sent by the police officers who attended the scene
01:53shortly after their return to the police station.
01:56The inquest heard they sent an email to Queensland Police Forces mental health intervention coordinators
02:03and what that recommended was for that team to follow up with Joel Couchy
02:09if this was the start of his decline in his mental health.
02:13We heard that there was a person working in that team on that day by themselves as was usual
02:19but that person was backfilling someone on leave
02:22and because they got caught up in another incident they were unable to follow it up and it got missed.
02:28And therefore no one checked up on Joel Couchy's mental health after that incident.
02:33We heard today from the person who usually is in that position and was on leave that day
02:38who said it was devastating that that oversight had occurred
02:42but said it was no fault of the officer involved
02:44and said it's actually due to significant understaffing in her team
02:49considering she is solely responsible for an area which encapsulates around 220,000 people alone
02:57and while she's here today giving evidence to this inquest
03:00no one is currently backfilling her role
03:03and she says those emails will start to pile up and up
03:06and that's why she believes this oversight has occurred.
03:09Now the inquest is due to hear from members of Westfield's security team tomorrow
03:15and they'll heavily scrutinise what was the response on that day on April 13 in 2024
03:22when Joel Couchy went on his stabbing rampage.
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