SYDNEY — The man accused of committing one of Australia’s worst mass shootings on a Jewish festival at Sydney’s famed Bondi Beach last December has been charged with 19 additional offenses.
Police say the attack that killed 15 people at a Hanukkah celebration was inspired bythe Islamic State.
They initially charged Naveed Akram with 59 offenses in the days following the shooting, including 15 counts of murder, 40 counts of wounding with intent to murder and a terror offense.
Akram’s lawyer, Leonie Gittani, told a court in Sydney on Wednesday that 19 additional charges had been filed, according to reports in local media.
Court records showed the new charges included 10 counts of shooting with intent to murder, six counts of discharging a firearm with intent to resist arrest and three counts of causing wounding or grievous bodily harm with intent to murder.
According to court records seen by the BBC, new charges were filed in April but have only now been confirmed by authorities.
Akram, 24, has made a series of short court appearances but is yet to enter a plea to the charges. He is due back in court in August.
His father, Sajid Akram, 50, whom authorities also accused of carrying out the shooting, was shot dead by police at the scene.
The attack stunned a nation known for its strict gun laws, prompting renewed calls for tighter controls and more decisive action to combat antisemitism.
Australia has also launched a government-backed inquiry into antisemitism and social cohesion and the findings are due by December.
On Wednesday, prosecutors told the court that investigators from the Joint Counter Terrorism Team were “progressing” steadily through the evidence.
It includes 230,000 CCTV images as well as content on several devices belonging to people with alleged links to Akram which need to be translated, prosecutors said.
Outside court, Akram’s lawyer Gittani told the media that the extra charges were not a surprise to her client.
“He was sort of aware of it on the last occasion, but [in] a matter of this magnitude, it’s not unusual for additional charges to be laid,” she said, according to the national broadcaster ABC.
“It’s a process now that we’ve got to follow.”
Asked about the CCTV images, Gittani said: “It’s an unprecedented matter and so… there’s a lot to come. We’ve got a job to do, and that’s what we intend to do”.
Court documents released in late December alleged that the two shooters “meticulously” planned the attack on Bondi Beach for months and visited the location for reconnaissance two days prior.
One video taken on one of their mobile phones in October was described as showing the men sitting in front of an image of an Islamic State group (IS) flag.
They could be heard making statements about their motivations for the attack and condemning “the acts of ‘Zionists’”, police said.
Police said separate footage from October showed the father and son “conducting firearms training in a countryside location”, believed to be in New South Wales.
They were seen “firing shotguns and moving in a tactical manner”, officials added.
In April, Akram lost a court bid to suppress the identity of his immediate family due to safety concerns.
The attack was Australia’s worst mass shooting in almost three decades and prompted sweeping gun law reforms and a crackdown on hate speech.
Source: Saudi Gazette