Image: Bondi Beach, Sydney. Photo by -wuppertaler, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.
Bondi accused hit with fresh charges as terror case grows to 78 counts
The Bondi Beach terror case has widened again, with accused gunman Naveed Akram now facing 19 fresh offences over the December attack that left 15 people dead and wounded many more at a Jewish Hanukkah gathering by the water.
The new charges were filed in Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday, 10 June 2026. They take the 24-year-old’s total charge sheet to 78 counts, a grim ledger that now includes one count of committing a terrorist act, 15 counts of murder, 43 counts of attempted murder, 10 counts of shooting with intent to murder, seven counts of discharging a firearm with intent, one explosives-related charge and one charge of displaying a prohibited terrorist organisation symbol.
The scale of the brief gives some sense of the size of the job now sitting in front of investigators and prosecutors. The court was told there are 230,000 CCTV images in the evidence brief, along with material from numerous devices connected to people allegedly linked to Akram. Some of that material still needs translation.
Akram has not entered pleas. His lawyer, Leonie Gittani, told reporters outside court the case remained at an early stage and that, in a matter of this size, further charges were not unusual. She also said the matter was under strict suppression orders, particularly around parts of the evidence.
The case is being handled by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions after referral from the NSW Joint Counter Terrorism Team, made up of NSW Police, the Australian Federal Police, ASIO and the NSW Crime Commission. The prosecution relates to Akram’s alleged role in the Bondi Beach shootings on Sunday, 14 December 2025.
Akram’s father, Sajid Akram, who police allege was also a gunman in the attack, was shot dead by officers before Naveed Akram was arrested.
For the families of those killed, the new paperwork does not change the hard centre of the story. Fifteen people went to a public Jewish festival at Bondi and never came home. Others were left carrying bullet wounds, trauma and the kind of memory that does not politely fade when the police tape comes down.
The legal process is now moving slowly because it has to. Prosecutors say the balance of the brief is due by 12 August 2026. The matter is also listed on 29 June 2026 for review of suppression orders covering victim identification information.
That means the country is still a long way from hearing the full case in open court. But Wednesday’s fresh charges make one thing plain: this is no longer just the aftermath of an atrocity. It is becoming one of Australia’s largest and most closely watched terror prosecutions, with every count now carrying the weight of a life taken, a life nearly taken, or a city forced to stare again at what happened on its own sand.
Sources: ABC News and the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.
