By Danielle Kutchel
A knife-wielding man who was fatally shot by police on the Monash Freeway is not believed to have had a diagnosed mental health issue, a court has heard.
The revelation was made at a directions hearing before before State Coroner John Cain at the Melbourne Coroners Court on Wednesday 17 June, ahead of the inquest into the man’s death.
In the opening summary, presented by Lindsay Spence, Counsel assisting the Coroner, the court was told that the man, known only as ‘XY’, had witnessed years of family violence inflicted on his mother – and potentially himself – by his now-deceased father.
Although it is believed the “trauma had an everlasting effect on XY”, at this stage he is not believed to have had any diagnosed mental health issues.
However, the court heard he had developed a string of strange behaviours.
XY was described as having become “paranoid and fixated” during the Covid-19 pandemic and was noted to have stopped working.
The court heard he believed someone was out to kill him, and had increased CCTV around his house.
XY had refused a support referral from police and crisis assessment team personnel who attended his home to check on his mother’s deteriorating mental health and dementia on 20 May 2020.
Two days later, he contacted the police assistance line, concerned that his Facebook account had been hacked.
On the morning of Thursday 28 May, the court heard XY told his wife not to take their children to school as he wanted to have a “family day”.
XY believed that if he or his family members left the home, they would die.
The school was notified and contacted XY’s wife to check on their safety, telling her they would be contacting police.
When XY’s wife told her husband that police were coming, he armed himself with a knife and fire poker and left, forcing the family to wave at him from the driveway so that CCTV would capture that he had not harmed them.
The man informed his family that that was the last time they would see him, and they reported his behaviour to police.
XY drove to the Monash Freeway, where he stopped in the left-hand running lane inbound and calling 000.
The court was told XY spoke to the operator for 12 minutes, during which time he denied having any weapons, said he was not suicidal and said he required assistance in relation to his hacked Facebook account.
A concerned passer-by stopped and spoke to XY, who said he wanted the police to “take him out”.
The other driver also called 000.
Police who attended the scene were told by Police Communications that it was believed that XY could commit suicide.
XY’s comments about wanting to be ‘taken out’ by police were also passed on, although the court heard the context around the comments was unclear.
Once on scene, police began negotiating with XY through a trained negotiator for approximately 14 minutes, during which time XY told police he wasn’t armed.
When negotiations failed, police decided to arrest XY. Due to the amount of clothing worn by the man, police decided tasers would be ineffective.
As they approached XY, the man became agitated and put his hand in his pocket and refused to remove it, before producing the knife he had taken from his home.
Police fired beanbag rounds at the man, which only served to agitate him further.
The court was told XY ran at police, brandishing the knife, and was then fired on by a police officer using his semi-automatic pistol.
XY was hit in the upper body, and fell forwards onto the police officer he had been running towards.
The knife was secured before police provided first aid, including CPR, to XY until paramedics arrived, but XY died at the scene from his injuries.
No police officers were injured during the incident, which was captured by seven police body cameras.
As the incident was declared ‘critical’, all police were subjected to drug and alcohol testing which came back negative.
The investigation into XY’s death is ongoing, and the coroner is expected to hand down a report in early October.
If this story raises any concerns for you, please contact:
Lifeline: 13 11 14 or lifeline.org.au
Beyond Blue: 1300 224 636 or beyondblue.org.au
MensLine Australia: 1300 789 978 or mensline.org.au
Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467 or suicidecallbackservice.org.au
