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In brief
- The man accused of committing the 2025 Bondi shooting was charged with 59 offences at the time of his arrest.
- Naveed Akram has now been handed 19 new charges while in custody at Goulburn’s supermax prison.
A man, implicated in orchestrating the nation’s most devastating terror attack, is expected to face a series of new charges.
Naveed Akram is accused of a horrific act: opening fire on a crowd gathered to celebrate Hanukkah at Bondi Beach, alongside his father, 50-year-old Sajid Akram, on December 14.
This brutal attack claimed the lives of 15 individuals, including a 10-year-old girl, and left dozens more injured.
In the immediate aftermath, the elder Akram was fatally shot by police officers, while Naveed Akram was arrested and charged with 59 offences. He is currently being held at Goulburn’s supermax prison.
The charges already filed against him encompass the commission of a terrorist act, 15 counts of murder, and 40 charges of attempted murder, reflecting his alleged involvement in this tragic event.
Court records show the 24-year-old is expected to be hit with a further 19 charges, including 10 counts of shooting with intent to murder and six counts of discharging a firearm with intent to resist arrest.
The additional charges were added to the court file in April, before a mention of the matter in Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday.
But Akram’s lawyer Leonie Gittani said outside court that the defence team haven’t received new court attendance notices.
“Once these charges – if they’re to be filed – once they’re filed, we’ll deal with them at that point,” she said.
Charges are often added, dropped, or restructured during the early stages of court matters before pleas are entered.
Akram has not yet been required to enter pleas to any of the charges against him.
He was expected to dial into the court via audiovisual link for a hearing about extending a prohibition on publishing the names and identities of survivors of the attack.
More victims are seeking to be covered by a court suppression order made in December which gives those who survived the massacre the ability to choose if or when they speak to the media about the tragedy.
Akram did not appear on screen as the hearing was adjourned until June.
The father-and-son attack was Australia’s deadliest mass shooting since the Port Arthur massacre in 1996.
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