Naveed Akram, the man accused over the Bondi Beach shooting, is now facing 19 additional charges that were filed at Downing Centre Local Court in Sydney. The fresh counts were confirmed by a Commonwealth prosecutor, who told the court that the paperwork for the additional charges had been lodged. The development adds significantly to a case that was already among the most serious before the courts, stemming from the shooting that took place in the middle of December.
Before today, Akram was already facing 59 charges in connection with the attack. Those charges included 15 counts of murder and 40 counts of attempted murder. The shooting occurred at Bondi Beach in mid-December, where 15 people were killed as a Jewish event was being held in a park by the beach. The scale of the loss of life has placed the matter at the centre of a major counter-terrorism investigation.
According to court records, the 19 additional charges break down into several categories. They include 10 counts of shooting with intent to murder, six counts of discharging a firearm with intent to resist arrest, and three counts of wounding with intent to murder. The new charges were outlined as the prosecution updated the court on the progress of the case and the preparation of the evidence against the accused.
The prosecutor told the judge that terror investigators from the joint counter-terrorism team were progressing well in their preparation of the matter, and that they were making an update to the set of alleged police facts. The sheer volume of material was underscored in court, with the prosecutor noting that some 230,000 images from closed-circuit television would form part of the brief of evidence. There are also multiple devices involved, and material from those devices will require translation.
The case has been adjourned until August, and Naveed Akram is yet to enter any pleas. He did not appear in court today, either in person or through a video link. The proceedings at this stage remain focused on the gathering and serving of the extensive evidence, rather than on the substance of any defence, with the timetable stretching out over the coming months.
Outside court, Akram's defence lawyer, Leonie Gattani, said the additional charges did not really come as a surprise and were not unusual given the magnitude of the case. She said her client had been aware that there was a possibility of the new charges being laid. Her comments suggested that the defence had anticipated the prosecution expanding the list of allegations as the investigation continued to develop.
Ms Gattani was also asked about the figure of 230,000 images, and she said it really showed how unprecedented the case was. She explained that the defence team had still not been served all of the evidence in the matter, and that until that happened they would not be in a position to enter a plea. Describing the case as still being in its infancy in a legal sense, she said the team had a job to do and would continue working through it in the months ahead.