3 min readDec 17, 2025 04:36 PM IST
First published on: Dec 17, 2025 at 02:20 PM IST
Naveed Akram, a 24-year-old suspected gunman in Sydney’s Bondi Beach massacre, was charged with 59 offences, including 15 charges of murder, on Wednesday, as hundreds of mourners gathered in Sydney to begin funerals for the victims.
Naveed Akram was charged after waking from a coma in a Sydney hospital, where he has been since police shot him and his gunman father at Bondi. His 50-year-old father Sajid Akram died at the scene, reported news agency Associated Press.
The father-son duo killed 15 people on December 14 in an antisemitic mass shooting targeting Jews celebrating Hanukkah at Bondi Beach, and over 20 other people are still being treated in hospitals. All of those killed by the gunmen who have been identified so far were Jewish.
Charges against Naveed Akram
The charges include one count of murder for each fatality and one count of committing a terrorist act. Akram was also charged with 40 counts of causing harm with intent to murder in relation to the wounded and with placing an explosive near a building with intent to cause harm.
Police said the Akrams’ car, which was found at the crime scene, contained improvised explosive devices. The victims of the attack ranged in age from a 10-year-old girl to an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor.
The youngest killed was Matilda, 10, whose parents urged attendees at a vigil Tuesday night to remember her name.
Sajid Akram was originally from Hyderabad
Sajid Akram was from Hyderabad, law enforcement agencies in both Australia and India confirmed Tuesday, bringing into focus a two-storey bungalow in the city’s Tolichowki area that belongs to the family.
Law enforcement agencies identified the gunmen as Sajid Akram and his son Naveed Akram. Tbe Australian Police said the father and son travelled to the Philippines last month. The Philippines Bureau of Immigration confirmed that Sajid travelled on an Indian passport, while Naveed used an Australian one.
Once the shooters’ link to India emerged, the Telangana police shared details of the Akram family. According to the police, Sajid has a B.Com degree and migrated to Australia in November 1998 in search of work. There, he married a woman of European origin, with whom he had two children – Naveed and a daughter. Since then, he is believed to have returned to India six times, with his family stating that he had limited contact with them and that he even skipped his father’s funeral in 2009.
Naveed Akram and his father Sajid Akram slaughtered 15 people on Sunday in an antisemitic mass shooting targeting Jews celebrating Hanukkah at Bondi Beach. (File) 
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