This handout photo from a court exhibit released by the NSW Courts as part of the police fact sheet on December 22, 2025, shows a screen grab taken from a video recorded in late October 2025 of future Bondi terrorist Sajid Akram firing a shotgun and moving in a tactical manner in a countryside location, suspected to be in New South Wales. (Handout / NSW Courts / AFP)
A man accused of killing 15 people in a terror attack on a Hanukkah event at Sydney’s Bondi Beach conducted “firearms training” in an area of New South Wales outside of Sydney with his father and recorded a video about their “justification” for the antisemitic attack in which they condemn “Zionists,” police allege in court documents.
The police statement of facts is made public following Naveed Akram’s video court appearance from a Sydney hospital.
The statement alleges the 24-year-old and his father, 50-year-old Sajid Akram, threw four improvised explosive devices toward the crowd at the Hanukkah event at Bondi Beach on December 14, but they didn’t explode. It also says they made a “reconnaissance” trip to Bondi beach just days before the mass shooting.
According to police, a video file found on one of the accused’s phone shows the two sitting in front of an Islamic State flag, reciting a passage from the Quran and making statements “regarding their motivation for the ‘Bondi attack.'”
The New South Wales court media unit cannot immediately provide a copy of the statement.
Police shot the father dead at the scene and wounded the son.
The son was charged last week with 59 offenses, including 15 counts of murder and one of committing a terrorist act.
This handout photo from a court exhibit released by the NSW Courts as part of the police facts sheet on December 22, 2025 shows two undetonated pipe bombs, on preliminary analysis were assessed as viable improvised explosive devices (IEDs), which had been allegedly thrown towards the crowd during the terror attack targeting a Hanukkah event (Handout / NSW Courts / AFP)
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From the Liveblog of
Monday, December 22, 2025
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