SYDNEY: Accused Bondi Beach killer Naveed Akram appeared in an Australian court via video link Monday, in his first public hearing since the nation’s worst mass shooting in nearly three decades.
Akram and his father, Sajid, allegedly attacked a Hanukkah celebration in December. Sajid was shot and killed by police during the attack.
Akram has been charged with terrorism, 15 counts of murder, dozens of counts of causing wounds to a person with intent to kill and planting explosives.
He appeared in a Sydney court for about five minutes via video link from prison, according to a statement from the court and local media.
The timeline of evidence was also discussed, the court said.
Akram wore a green jersey during the hearing, which dealt mostly with technical matters such as suppressing the identification of some victims, local media said.
He reportedly spoke only one word — “yeah” — when asked by the judge whether he had heard a discussion about the extension of suppression orders.
Akram will next appear in court on March 9.
Speaking outside the court, Akram’s lawyer Ben Archbold said his client was being held in “very onerous conditions,” national broadcaster ABC said.
He also said it was too early to say whether Akram would plead guilty.
The mass shooting sparked national soul-searching about antisemitism, anger over the failure to shield Jewish Australians from harm and promises to stiffen gun laws.
Among the victims of December’s attack were an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor, a couple who confronted one of the gunmen and a 10-year-old girl, Matilda, who was described at her funeral as a “ray of sunshine.”
’Tactical’ training
Police and intelligence agencies are also facing difficult questions about whether they could have acted earlier.
Naveed Akram was flagged by Australia’s intelligence agency in 2019, but he slipped off the radar after it decided that he posed no imminent threat.
Police documents released following the attack said the two had carried out “firearms training” in what was believed to be the New South Wales countryside prior to the shooting.
They said the suspects “meticulously planned” the attack for months, releasing pictures showing them firing shotguns and moving in what they described as a “tactical manner.”
The pair also recorded a video in October railing against “Zionists” while sitting in front of a flag of the Islamic State jihadist group and detailing their motivations for the attack, police said.
And they made a nighttime reconnaissance trip to Bondi Beach just days before the killings, documents showed.
And a few weeks before the Bondi Beach attack, the pair returned to Sydney from a four-week trip to the southern Philippines.
