Bondi Beach terrorist faces 15 murder charges
Naveed Akram regained consciousness after being critically wounded and appeared in court via livestream from his hospital bed.
Naveed Akram, 24, has been charged with 59 offences following the terrorist attack at Bondi Beach on Sunday that targeted Jewish community members attending the Chanukah by the Sea event. The mass shooting left 15 people dead and a further 41 injured.
Akram regained consciousness in hospital on Wednesday after being critically injured during an exchange of gunfire with police during the attack on the first night of Chanukah.
The NSW Joint Counter Terrorism Team, comprising NSW Police, AFP, ASIO and the NSW Crime Commission, charged him with numerous offences related to the incident.
The charges include 15 counts of murder, committing a terrorist act, 40 counts of causing wounding or grievous bodily harm to a person with intent to murder, discharging a firearm with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, causing public display of a prohibited terrorist organisation symbol and placing an explosive in or near a building with intent to cause harm.
Akram appeared in court via livestream from his hospital bed. He remains too unwell to be transferred to prison and will stay in hospital under police custody.
He declined to speak with police, who waited three days for his medication to subside before laying charges.
“For us to do that, it’s important that he has appropriate cognitive ability at the time when you’re on medication, we would argue for his fairness,” NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said at a press conference on Wednesday.
“We need to make sure that he’s able to understand exactly what’s happening.”
It was reported that several lawyers were approached to represent Akram but refused.
Investigators allege officers arrived to discover Naveed and his father Sajid Akram, 50, firing long arm rifles into crowds when they responded to Bondi Beach after 6.40pm on Sunday.
Multiple officers returned fire, with two officers shot during the confrontation.
The alleged nine-minute assault ended when Sajid was fatally shot and Naveed was critically wounded.
The victims, aged between 10 and 87, included 15 people killed and another 41 injured.
Police will allege in court that Naveed’s actions caused death, serious injury and endangered life to advance a religious cause and instil fear in the community.
“Early investigations indicate it was an alleged terrorist attack inspired by ISIS, a listed terrorist organisation in Australia,” a NSW Police statement said.
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said early investigations indicate no other individual is expected to face charges.
The investigation has expanded internationally after confirmation that father and son travelled to the Philippines for 28 days in November.
Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos junior’s spokesperson, Claire Castro, said the leader rejected “the misleading characterisation of the Philippines as an ISIS training hotspot”.
“Currently, there is no validated report or confirmation that the individuals involved in the Bondi Beach incident received any form of training in the Philippines,” she said.
“Philippine authorities, in coordination with the international partners, continue to verify all available information, but no evidence has been presented to support claims that the country was used for terrorist training.”
Naveed is an Australian citizen, while his father, Sajid, was born in Hyderabad, India.
Sajid migrated to Australia in 1998 but used his Indian passport to visit the Philippines.
Authorities are speaking to his family and friends overseas, who say they had little to do with him for the past 30 years.
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