Had new mother Ashlee Good been given “even 1o seconds’ warning” when Joel Cauchi began his stabbing spree at Westfield Bondi Junction, she might have been able to take evasive action to save her life, a court has heard.
Schizophrenic man Cauchi, 40, killed Good, 38, Jade Young, 47, Yixuan Cheng, 27, Pikria Darchia, 55, Dawn Singleton, 25, and Faraz Tahir, 30, and injured 10 others at Westfield Bondi Junction before he was shot and killed by police inspector Amy Scott.
As submissions to the inquest into the seven deaths drew to a close, the New South Wales coroner’s court heard the families of those killed were “not just disappointed but angered” by Westfield’s owner, Scentre Group, and Glad security group, who did not accept that the sole control room operator known as CR1 was not competent to be in the position she was that day.
During the five-week hearing in May, it emerged that CR1 had been using the bathroom when the attack began. The first emergency announcement made over Tannoy in Westfield was made only well after Cauchi had been shot dead.
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In her oral submission on Friday afternoon, Sue Chrysanthou SC, representing the Good, Young and Singleton families said: “Cr1 should never have been in that chair unsupervised on that day.”
“If a competent person had seen Dawn stabbed on CCTV and issued an alert … then Ashlee Good could have taken some sort of action to save herself,” she said.
“She was in a lift,” she continued. Had she “even had 10 seconds’ warning” she could have taken evasive action, including by staying in the lift.
Senior counsel assisting the coroner, Dr Peggy Dwyer SC said CR1 was competent in her role in some aspects, but should not have been responsible for the CCTV control room alone.
Echoing Chrysanthou’s sentiments, the lawyer for the family of Darchia, Daniel Roff, said: “No alarm was hit, certainly not the correct alarm. Miss Darchia would have been able to take evasive action, but that opportunity was denied to her.”
Representing the Westfield Bondi Junction owner, Scentre Group, Dean Jordan SC said earlier on Friday that some criticisms of CR1’s performance were “harsh” and that there was a consistent body of evidence that showed she was competent and did not require ongoing supervision.
Chrysanthou also took aim at Dr Andrea Boros-Lavack, Cauchi’s psychiatrist. While she acknowledged the Toowoomba doctor had “finally” accepted her discharge of Cauchi to his GP was deficient, she said the “belated” admission did not “undo the lack of judgment and insight demonstrated by Dr Boros-Lavack throughout this inquest”.
Her discharge was “not just sub-par”, she said, but “far worse than that”. The “cheery letter” was misleading and “presented a healthy patient” that was then repeatedly referred to by other doctors for years.
Her conduct warrants the coroner referring Boros-Lavack to the health regulator, she said.
On Tuesday, Dwyer also suggested that, should the coroner refer the matter, the health regulator could investigate the psychiatrist further. On Friday, her lawyer, Mark Lynch, suggested the families of those who were killed could make the referral to the regulator themselves.
In response, Chrysanthou asked: “Haven’t they been through enough?”
“Why should they have to go through another process personally … when we have it all here in open court?” she added.
Earlier on Friday, Lynch said Cauchi’s phone and internet records showed it was “apparent that he was seeking” cocaine, MDMA and cannabis in late 2023 and early 2024.
Further, his resumption of drug use was “quite likely” to have played a part in the events of that day, although cocaine and MDMA were not found in his toxicology report.
A key subject in the proceedings has been whether Boros-Lavack should have weaned Cauchi from his antipsychotic medication in 2019.
Given Cauchi did not reach the threshold required to administer medications to him without his will, “it wasn’t open to anyone, any doctor … to force him to take medication,” Lynch said.
“His autonomy had to be respected,” he said.
At one point in the five-week hearing in May the psychiatrist sensationally told the court that she believed Cauchi’s attack had “nothing to do with psychosis” before she withdrew those comments the next day.
Cauchi, who was homeless at the time of the attack, was “floridly psychotic” that day, experts agreed. Boros-Lavack’s conjecture traumatised families, the court was told on Tuesday.
On Friday, Lynch said it was “grossly unfair” to have been forced to answer questions about Cauchi’s mental state on the day of the attack, given his client had not been provided with the material the experts had, and had not treated Cauchi for four years.
Dwyer said that was “incorrect” and that the entire brief of evidence had been provided to Boros-Lavack.
Lynch said it was “deeply regrettable” families had been traumatised by Boros-Lavack’s remarks “but in one sense [the questions] should never have been asked”, he said.
Dwyer could be seen shaking her head in response to the comment.
Lynch also addressed Dwyer’s claim that Boros-Lavack had acted with “belligerence” while testifying.
“She was troubled in the witness box, there’s no question about that,” Lynch said, explaining she was in pain, on medication, unaccustomed to giving evidence and “she clearly felt like she was under attack”.
O’Sullivan said she was hopeful findings would be delivered before the end of the year.
