Accused Bondi Beach killer Naveed Akram yesterday appeared in an Australian court via video link, 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.
Photo: AP
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 anti-Semitism, 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”.
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.
A few weeks before the Bondi Beach attack, the pair returned to Sydney from a four-week trip to the southern Philippines. They also made a nighttime reconnaissance trip to Bondi Beach just days before the killings, documents showed.
GLORY FACADE: Residents are fighting the church’s plan to build a large flight of steps and a square that would entail destroying up to two blocks of homes Barcelona’s eternally unfinished Basilica de la Sagrada Familia has grown to become the world’s tallest church, but a conflict with residents threatens to delay the finish date for the monument designed more than 140 years ago. Swathed in scaffolding on a platform 54m above the ground, an enormous stone slab is being prepared to complete the cross of the central Jesus Christ tower. A huge yellow crane is to bring it up to the summit, which will stand at 172.5m and has snatched the record as the world’s tallest church from Germany’s Ulm Minster. The basilica’s peak will deliberately fall short of the
FRAYED: Strains between the US-European ties have ruptured allies’ trust in Washington, but with time, that could be rebuilt, the Michigan governor said China is providing crucial support for Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and could end the war with a phone call, US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said. “China could call [Russian President] Vladimir Putin and end this war tomorrow and cut off his dual-purpose technologies that they’re selling,” Whitaker said during a Friday panel at the Munich Security Conference. “China could stop buying Russian oil and gas.” “You know, this war is being completely enabled by China,” the US envoy added. Beijing and Moscow have forged an even tighter partnership since the start of the war, and Russia relies on China for critical parts
Two sitting Philippine senators have been identified as “coperpetrators” in former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s crimes against humanity trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC), documents released by prosecutors showed. Philippine senators Ronald Dela Rosa and Christopher Go are among eight current and former officials named in a document dated Feb. 13 and posted to the court’s Web site. ICC prosecutors have charged Duterte with three counts of crimes against humanity, alleging his involvement in at least 76 murders as part of his “war on drugs.” “Duterte and his coperpetrators shared a common plan or agreement to ‘neutralize’ alleged criminals in the Philippines
In a softly lit Shanghai bar, graduate student Helen Zhao stretched out both wrists to have her pulse taken — the first step to ordering the house special, a bespoke “health” cocktail based on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). “TCM bars” have popped up in several cities across China, epitomizing what the country’s stressed-out, time-poor youth refer to as “punk wellness,” or “wrecking yourself while saving yourself.” At Shanghai’s Niang Qing, a TCM doctor in a white coat diagnoses customers’ physical conditions based on the pulse readings, before a mixologist crafts custom drinks incorporating the herbs and roots prescribed for their ailments.
RSS