Australia

Psychiatrist Retracts Claims About Bondi Killer's Motives

Published MAY 15 2025

Story

Above: A police car is seen outside the Westfield Shopping Centre at Bondi Junction in Sydney, Australia on April 14, 2024. Image credit: Ma Ping/Contributor/Xinhua via Getty Images

The Facts

In the ongoing inquest into Joel Cauchi's psychiatric care, a psychiatrist who treated him for eight years has revised her initial assessment of the April 2024 Bondi Junction stabbing. The attack resulted in six deaths and ten injuries at a Sydney shopping center, Australia.
Nt
ABC
Daily Mail
During her testimony on Tuesday, the psychiatrist, referred to as Dr. A, said she believed Cauchi's actions weren't linked to psychosis, noting the level of planning involved in the attack. Instead, she described the possible motivations as "sexual frustration, pornography, and hatred towards women."
ABC
SBS News
On Wednesday, under cross-examination, Dr. A withdrew that view, describing it as "conjecture" and acknowledging that her comments the previous day were speculative and not based on clinical documentation or formal diagnostic criteria.
ABC
SBS News
Dr. A's withdrawn claim differed from the unanimous view of other psychiatric experts at the inquest, who concluded Cauchi was "floridly psychotic" during the attack. Cauchi was diagnosed with schizophrenia at 17 and is said to have previously responded well to antipsychotic medication.
Guardian
The Sydney Morning Herald
Dr. A also faced questions over her decision to take Cauchi off all medication by 2019 without a second opinion. The inquest heard her 2020 discharge letter to his GP omitted signs of relapse and did not recommend continued psychiatric care.
Nt
Au
The inquest, now in its third week, is reviewing the adequacy of Cauchi's mental health treatment and the emergency response to the incident. Dr. A has apologized for parts of her testimony and conceded that some of her statements weren't supported by clinical evidence.
SBS News
Nt
Daily Mail

Sources Split

LEFT

CENTER

RIGHT

ESTAB
CRIT

CENTER

PRO
ESTAB

The Spin

Narrative A

Dr. A treated Cauchi over eight years from 2012 to 2020 and saw no signs of psychosis, risk, or disconnection from reality. He was articulate, motivated, and fearful of relapse — not delusional. While she retracted her initial claims about motive, that conclusion wasn't obvious based on years of clinical observation.

Narrative B

Dr. A's decision to discontinue Joel Cauchi's antipsychotic treatment in 2019, despite clear warning signs of relapse, was a critical failure. Her flip-flopping testimony — first speculating the attack was driven by sexual frustration, then retracting it — highlights a lack of professionalism and a failure to provide consistent, evidence-based care.

SBS News