Bondi Beach gunman charged with 59 offences

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Alleged Bondi Beach shooter Naveed Akram has been charged with 59 offences, including 15 counts of murder and a terror charge, New South Wales (NSW) police have said.

Australia’s Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, had said he expected the 24-year-old to be charged after waking from a coma.

Akram’s 50-year-old father, Sajid, the other suspect in the shooting in which 15 people were killed, died at the scene of the mass shooting on Sunday.

Akram, who remains under police guard in hospital, will face a Sydney local court’s bail division on Wednesday.

The offences include one count of committing a terrorist act, 40 counts of wounding with intent to murder, one count of placing an explosive in or near a building, a charge of discharging a firearm with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and a charge of publicly displaying a terrorist symbol.

Police said early indications pointed to a “terrorist attack inspired by Islamic State”.

The charges came after a funeral was held in Sydney for British-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.

*** BESTPIX *** SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - DECEMBER 17: Family grieve at the coffin of Rabbi Eli Schlanger, a victim in the Bondi Beach mass shooting, during his funeral at Chabad of Bondi on December 17, 2025 in Sydney, Australia. Police say at least 16 people, including one suspected gunman, were killed and more than 40 others injured when two attackers opened fire near a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach, in what authorities have declared a terrorist incident. (Photo by Hollie Adams-Pool/Getty Images)
Family grieve at the coffin of Rabbi Schlanger, a victim in the Bondi Beach mass shooting, during his funeral at Chabad of Bondi (Photo: Hollie Adams-Pool/Getty)

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 due to take place later on Wednesday.

Earlier, one of the two police officers injured in the attack was 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.

NSW Health confirmed 20 people remained in Sydney hospitals on Wednesday in the aftermath of the attack.

The local health authority confirmed one person remains in a critical condition, while four people are in a critical but stable condition.

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”.