Alleged Bondi Beach killer's mother received death threats, court told

SYDNEY: Accused Bondi Beach killer Naveed Akram’s mother has received death threats and abuse following an antisemitic shooting that killed 15 people, his lawyer told a court on Monday.

Naveed Akram and his father Sajid are accused of opening fire on a Hanukkah celebration at the Sydney beach in December. Sajid was shot and killed by police during the attack.

Akram has been charged with terrorism, 15 counts of murder, dozens of counts of causing wounds to a person with intent to kill, and planting explosives.

He is seeking to have the names and images of his mother, brother and sister, as well as the address of the family home, removed from media reports, including those already published online in Australia, after a spate of threats against the family members.

“The defendant is charged with the most serious and the most notorious terrorist act this country has ever seen,” his lawyer Richard Wilson told the court.

Wilson, the public defender, described an outpouring of grief and anger in Australia that is “unprecedented, extraordinary and absolutely understandable”.

“However there is no suggestion his mother, brother and sister had anything to do with it,” he added, noting Akram is alleged to have prepared for the attack at short-stay accommodation and not the family home.

Akram silently watched the court proceedings on a video link from a high-security prison.

His mother, who cannot be named under an interim court order, received a phone call two weeks after the Bondi attack from a man who said, “Are you still alive?”, the court heard.

Around the same period men banged on the door of the home at 10:30 pm.

The home had been vandalised and a pork chop thrown onto the family car. People had driven past the house yelling and swearing as recently as February, the defence lawyer said.

Wilson said there was a risk “vigilantes” would go further in taking out their anger over the attack on Akram’s family.

“At worst, there is a danger one or more of them may be killed,” he said.

The family cannot afford to move out of the house or get security guards, he said.

A lawyer for Australia’s major media organisations including Nationwide News, Nine and public broadcaster ABC argued in court the names of Akram’s mother and brother and the home address had already been widely published, including internationally.

Lawyer for the media organisations, Matthew Lewis, said open justice had a therapeutic effect for raw emotion and it was important the terrorism case is widely reported.

Magistrate Hugh Donnelly said he would give his ruling on the suppression order on April 2.