In a dramatic intervention on Wednesday, counsel assisting the coroner, Stephen O’Meara, QC, told the court the former police officer would represent himself in opposing the suppression order and requested to give evidence that could contradict Victoria Police. "Sergeant Frank Caridi, in January 2017, was a supervisor at South Melbourne. Since that time Mr Caridi has retired from Victoria Police and in July he contacted the court seeking to be called as a witness at the inquest," he said. James Gargasoulas outside the Supreme Court last year. Credit:AAP “He has since provided to the court a statement that bears on an aspect of the Chief Commissioner’s application, which he opposes and the statement addresses that. The court has granted Mr Caridi leave to appear as an interested party at the inquest.” Mr Caridi’s statement was not released by the court and he was not called to testify as part of the suppression order hearing.

But Coroner Jacqui Hawkins noted one of Mr Caridi’s objections was he “was never spoken to” as part of the critical incident review after the Bourke Street massacre. The Age has previously revealed the elite Critical Incident Response Team ignored repeated requests from local police to help contain and arrest Gargasoulas in St Kilda and Elsternwick almost nine hours before the tragedy unfolded. Police began searching for Gargasoulas at 2.20am on January 20, about an hour after he stabbed his brother, who was expected to die from the frenzied attack. Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton is seeking to keep a police report on the Bourke Street massacre secret. Credit:Simon Schluter Alerts sent during the manhunt warned officers that Gargasoulas posed a serious risk to the public and had a history of high-speed car chases.

Police on the ground requested CIRT respond at 4.30am and 4.40am in the hope of boxing him in to a narrow street when it appeared Gargasoulas was parked in a stolen car. CIRT denied the requests because it could not be confirmed that Gargasoulas was still armed and they would respond only if he was already contained within a police cordon. It was hours before a separate CIRT unit became involved in the pursuit as Gargasoulas sped back and forth across the inner city and western suburbs. Members of the team eventually shot and Tasered Gargasoulas in the CBD, ending the rampage. The decision by a night-shift CIRT team leader not to intervene in the early morning is understood to have caused ructions within CIRT leadership. The performance of Victoria Police over the course of the protracted incident was later reviewed by Assistant Commissioner Stephen Fontana, but the force has strenuously resisted the release of the report during the coronial inquest.

Dr Ian Freckleton, QC, acting for the police, said the contents of the critical incident review could be “misunderstood” and its release would make police officers reluctant to provide full and frank co-operation in future internal inquiries, which could jeopardise public safety. "We accept that it is in the public interest that it be known that an earnest and extensive critical incident review process has been undertaken by Victoria Police. It does not follow from that the actual words employed by Assistant Commissioner Fontana need to be publicised by the media," he said. "They will be at liberty to report on what he says to you in open court." Dr Freckleton said the report was dated and its conclusions may not be the same conclusions Mr Fontana provides on the stand with the benefit of new evidence that arises during the inquest. But lawyers for the victims' families told the court: “You can’t unscramble this egg.” Dr Sue McNicol, QC, said: "Whether the review report is dated or not, it is inextricably linked and inextricably intertwined with the issues that are to be openly ventilated and reported on in this inquest."

The families also made an application for the scope of the inquest to be extended to include the response of emergency services personnel after Gargasoulas drove into Bourke Street. Currently, the inquest is to examine the six days before the incident – when Gargasoulas was released on bail until he turned into Bourke Street Mall – but not the actual murders. The families asked for the inquest to examine until Gargasoulas was arrested, including whether police could have acted differently while the murders were taking place. Aine Magee, QC, who also appeared on behalf of the victims, said the families had questions about why they had been refused access to their loved ones in Bourke Street. Loading