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A coroner’s court has heard Bondi Junction stabber Joel Cauchi’s mental health deteriorated after he stopped taking medication, and the 40-year-old had been sleeping rough in the lead-up to the frenzied attack in a shopping centre that left six people dead.
Cauchi was diagnosed with schizophrenia as a teenager, a directions hearing into the April 13 stabbing was told. He received mental health treatment until 2020, and had stopped taking medication by 2019.
An inquest into Cauchi’s attack – which killed Dawn Singleton, Jade Young, Yixuan Cheng, Ashlee Good, Pikria Darchia and Faraz Tahir – will run for five weeks from next April 2025. It will focus on issues including Cauchi’s mental health conditions, treatment and interactions with police before the event, as well the timing of the alarm at Westfield Bondi, which did not sound until after Cauchi was shot and killed by a responding police officer.
- ‘Days of severe storms’ to rumble across Australia | Severe weather has been forecast for every mainland state and territory in Australia this week, with possible wind gusts, heavy rain, large hail and flash flooding on the cards – not to mention “millions of lightning strikes”.
- Jamie Oliver urged to engage with truth-telling inquiry | Victoria’s Indigenous truth-telling inquiry has called on the celebrity chef to engage with the commission and learn about Australia’s history after he pulled his children’s book from sale over backlash for stereotyping First Nations people.
- Some air fares more than doubled after collapse of Rex flights | The average domestic air fare increased by 13% after the collapse of Rex flights between capital cities, the consumer watchdog has found, as Qantas and Virgin’s duopoly surged to 98% market dominance. The embattled regional airline has since been thrown a government lifeline.
- Family and friends mourn kindergarten worker | The devastated family of a kindergarten worker who died saving her young students from an out-of-control truck north-west of Melbourne says she was the “light of our lives”, as tributes flow from friends and colleagues.
- Police officer said ‘got her … grab it’ after Tasering Clare Nowland | Footage played in court shows NSW police officer Kristian White raising his Taser towards 95-year-old Nowland, who was holding a knife, and saying: “We’re not playing this game Clare, you got to put that down”. He has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter.
- Man who ‘discarded’ wife after tricking her into leaving Australia jailed | A 52-year-old man became the first Victorian convicted of exit trafficking and was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison, after he tricked his wife into travelling to Sudan before taking her children and passport back to Australia.
- Israel says ‘certain progress’ made in Lebanon ceasefire talks | Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Saar, has said that diplomatic efforts were taking place through US mediation, but that the lack of an enforcement mechanism in any future deal remained a stumbling block.
- Coles unfairly targeted by ‘politicised’ attacks, chair says | The supermarket’s chair, James Graham, used his address at the company’s annual general meeting on Tuesday to argue it was wrong to blame supermarkets for rising prices because inflation is a complex, global issue.
- Trump set to appoint China critic as US national security adviser | President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for the role, congressman Mike Waltz, has criticised Chinese activity in the Asia-Pacific and has voiced the need for the United States to be ready for a potential conflict in the region.
Main image: Steven Saphore/AAP
