Bondi gunman charged with dozens of offences, 15 murders

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Naveed Akram, the 24-year-old allegedly behind Sunday’s Bondi Beach massacre, has been charged with 59 offences, including 15 murders.

Akram woke from a coma on Tuesday, having been critically injured in a shootout with police in which his father, Sajid, 50, was killed.

The father and son allegedly killed 15 people and injured dozens more when they used high-powered firearms to attack a crowd of Jewish families at the Chanukah by the Sea event.

NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon on Sunday night declared the mass shooting a terrorist attack.

Naveed was on Wednesday charged with 15 counts of murder, committing a terrorist act and dozens of counts of wounding or causing grievous bodily harm with intent to murder. He was also charged with discharging a firearm intending to cause grievous bodily harm, causing a public display of a prohibited terrorist organisation symbol and placing explosives in or near a building with intent to cause harm.

“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,” police said in a statement.

“Early indications point to a terrorist attack inspired by ISIS, a listed terrorist organisation in Australia.”

Naveed did not apply for bail when his matter was briefly heard in court on Wednesday. He was remanded in custody to face court in April.

This masthead has been told he was earlier spoken to by detectives, where he had senior counsel legal representation, but he declined to be interviewed over his alleged involvement in the Bondi attack.

In the days since Australia’s worst terror attack, details about the father and son’s alleged links to extremist groups have emerged, including Naveed’s involvement with a street preaching group in Sydney’s west which has links to multiple Islamic State devotees.

Lanyon on Tuesday alleged two homemade IS flags had been found in the silver Hyundai hatchback the father and son drove to Bondi. Incendiary explosive devices were allegedly also found in the car.

Police are also investigating a trip taken by the pair to the Philippines in the weeks before Sunday’s massacre, and how Sajid Akram legally secured high-powered weapons despite his son’s alleged links to extremist circles. Police sources also alleged to this masthead the Akrams had prepared a manifesto before the massacre.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett on Tuesday alleged the “early indications” from authorities’ investigations “pointed to a terrorist attack inspired by Islamic State”.

“These are the alleged actions of those who have aligned themselves with a terrorist organisation, not a religion,” she told reporters. Barrett would not comment on the material found at a Campsie property the Akrams had been renting in the lead-up to the attack.

The youngest of the Akrams’ alleged victims, 10-year-old Matilda, died in hospital after being shot as she visited a petting zoo with her parents and younger sister.

Her family, who returned to Bondi Beach on Tuesday, remembered her as a “happy, bright” girl. The oldest victim of the massacre was 87.

Two police officers, Constable Scott Dyson, 25, and Probationary Constable Jack Hibbert, were seriously injured in the shooting and remain in hospital along with other victims still receiving treatment.

Dyson, a talented water polo player who has represented Australia, was shot in the shoulder and abdomen with what is believed to have been the high-powered rifle.

Hibbert was shot in the head and shoulder. Shrapnel damaged the nerves behind one of his eyes in which he has lost vision, his family said.

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