Australia police charge alleged Bondi Beach gunman with 59 offences, including terror

Police in Australia said on Wednesday they had charged a man who allegedly opened fire on a Jewish event on Sydney’s Bondi Beach with 59 offences, including a terror charge.

The charges include 40 counts of causing grievous bodily harm to a person with intent to murder, 15 counts of murder, as well as public display of the symbol of a prohibited terrorist organisation.

Naveed Akram, 25, is one of the two men suspected of carrying out Australia’s deadliest mass shooting in three decades. He was shot by the police during the Bondi Beach massacre and remains in a Sydney hospital under heavy police guard.

“Police will allege in court the man engaged in conduct that caused death, serious injury and endangered life to advance a religious cause and cause fear in the community,” New South Wales state police said.

“Early indications point to a terrorist attack inspired by [Daesh], a listed terrorist organisation in Australia,” they said in a statement, using another name for the terrorist group.

Two homemade Daesh flags were found in a car registered to Naveed and parked near the beach.

The alleged father-and-son perpetrators opened fire on a Jewish Hanukkah celebration on Sydney’s famed Bondi Beach on December 14, in an attack that shook the nation and intensified fears of rising antisemitism and violent extremism.

The 15 victims ranged from a rabbi who was a father of five, to a Holocaust survivor, to a 10-year-old girl named Matilda Britvan, according to interviews, officials and media reports. Two police officers remained in critical but stable condition in the hospital, New South Wales police said.

Naveed’s father, Sajid Akram, 50, was shot dead by police at the scene, while his 24-year-old son, named in local media as Naveed, emerged from a coma on Wednesday after also being shot by police.

The men accused of carrying out Sunday’s attack had travelled to the southern Philippines, a region long plagued by militancy, weeks before the shooting that Australian police said appeared to be inspired by Daesh.

It may be noted that the Indian government officials on Tuesday confirmed that Sajid hailed was from Hyderabad, India, after days of uncertain reports regarding the identity of the alleged gunman, who is now dead.

The Indian authorities shared the details of Sajid after conducting a background verification.

As per details, Sajid was a resident of Tolichowki, Hyderabad, who moved to Australia in 1998 on a student visa and had returned to India only “two-three occasions” since relocating. He last visited India in 2022.

Meanwhile, Naveed, the second attacker, was born in Australia in 2001 and holds Australian citizenship.