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Accused Bondi Beach gunman Naveed Akram has made his first public appearance since allegedly carrying out the worst terror attack in Australia’s history that left 15 people dead.
Akram, 24, and his father Sajid, 50, allegedly opened fire on a Jewish celebration at the iconic beach on December 14, 2025 using rifles and shotguns.
Police returned fire, killing Sajid and gravely injuring Akram. The pair were motivated by Islamic State and targeted the Jewish community deliberately, investigators say.
By then, 15 innocent people were dead – including a 10-year-old girl.
Akram spent weeks in Long Bay prison hospital before being taken to Goulburn Supermax prison, which is reserved for the highest risk prisoners.
Akram dialled in to the Downing Centre Local Court using a videolink from a drab, grey room in Goulburn on Monday morning for a few moments.
His lawyer had told the court that Akram did not need to appear – but the word had not reached prison staff before the link activated.
The court hearing was brief; non-publication orders over the details of victims were extended, the timeline of evidence to change hands was discussed.
Akram sat mostly silently, looking alert and wearing a dark green prison jumper. His only reply was “yep” when asked, by Deputy Chief Magistrate Sharon Freund, if he had heard the exchanges.
The link was quickly terminated, and the matter will return in March for another administrative hearing.
Court documents, obtained by the Herald shortly after Akram’s arrest, allege that he and his father rented a hideout in Campsie in October – a small Airbnb – to plan their attack.
That month, they recorded a video of themselves in front of an image of an Islamic State flag, with four long-arm guns with ammunition rounds, hanging on the wood-panelled wall behind them.
In that video, Naveed appears to recite a passage from the Koran in Arabic. Then, in English, both men allegedly talk about their motivation for the Bondi attack and condemn the acts of Zionists.
“[They] appear to summarise their justification for the Bondi terrorist attack,” say the allegations contained in a police fact sheet released by the NSW Local Court in December.
According to the fact sheet, they had amassed six guns, including two single-barrel shotguns and a Beretta rifle (Sajid had a NSW licence for firearms). They had made three pipe bombs, one tennis ball bomb, and a large IED bomb, police allege.
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