Man charged over Bondi Beach terror attack
A man has been charged over the Bondi terrorist attack that killed 15 people in Sydney.
Fifteen people were killed when, according to local police, father and son Sajid and Naveed Akram allegedly opened fire on more than 1,000 people attending a Jewish festival in the Archer Park area of the popular beach at 6.47pm local time on Sunday.
Sajid Akram, 50, was shot by police and died at the scene, but 24-year-old Naveed, who awoke from a coma on Tuesday, was charged with 59 offences, including 15 counts of murder and committing a terrorist attack, New South Wales (NSW) Police confirmed.
The other charges are 40 counts of causing wounding/grievous bodily harm to a person with intent to murder, discharging a firearm intending to cause grievous bodily harm, a public display of a prohibited terrorist organisation symbol and placing an explosive in/near a building with the intent to cause harm.
Police said early indications pointed to a “terrorist attack inspired by ISIS”.
Akram, who remains under police guard in hospital, will face a Sydney local court’s bail division on Wednesday.
The first funerals of the victims took place on Wednesday, including that of London-born Rabbi Eli Schlanger.
Father-of-five Mr Schlanger, 41, grew up in Temple Fortune, north London, and his funeral service took place at Chabad of Bondi, where he was assistant rabbi.
During a tearful address, his father-in-law, Rabbi Yehoram Ulman told the congregation it was “unthinkable we talk about you in the past tense”.
He said rabbis would continue a tradition on Sunday, the first night of Hanukkah, of lighting candles on Bondi Beach.
The funeral of Rabbi Yaakov Levitan was taking place later on Wednesday.
One of the two police officers injured in the attack has been named as probationary constable Jack Hibbert, 22.
In a statement, his family said he had been patrolling the Hanukkah celebration at Bondi when he was shot twice, once in his head and once in his shoulder, and had lost vision in one eye.
“Jack is just 22 years old and has only been in the police force for four months,” the family statement said.
“In the face of a violent and tragic incident, he responded with courage, instinct, and selflessness, continuing to protect and help others whilst injured, until he was physically no longer able to.
“Jack was simply doing his job – a job he deeply loves – driven by a commitment to protect the community, even at great personal cost.”
New South Wales (NSW) state police commissioner Mal Lanyon said Constable Scott Dyson, who was also injured in the attack, was in a critical and stable condition after undergoing further surgery on Wednesday.
NSW Health confirmed 20 people remained in Sydney hospitals on Wednesday in the aftermath of the attack.
Speaking after visiting a Sydney hospital, Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese said: “We will hold people to account for what has occurred.
“We will give whatever powers are necessary to our police forces, to our security and intelligence agencies arising from this act of terror and act of antisemitism that we saw play out on Sunday night.
“We want to stamp out and eradicate antisemitism from our society. We want to also stamp out the evil ideology of what would appear to be, from the investigators, an Isis-inspired attack. That has no place, that sort of hatred.”
On Tuesday Mr Albanese met “Australian hero Ahmed al Ahmed and his family”, adding: “I thanked him for the lives that he helped to save and I wished him all the very best with his surgery that he will undertake tomorrow.”
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Father-of-two Mr Ahmed, 43, from Sydney, tackled one of the gunmen by sneaking up on him and wrestling his weapon away.
NSW premier Chris Minns said the state parliament would be recalled at the start of next week to introduce a package of measures designed to tighten gun control and give police powers to block protests during a terror situation.
He said demonstrations threatened to “rip apart our community” during what he called a “combustible situation”.
