Bondi Beach gunman Naveed Akram has appeared via video link for the first time in a Sydney court as a senior magistrate extended existing suppression orders in the case.
The 24-year-old faces 59 charges including 15 counts of murder and one of committing a terrorist attack over the shooting in December.
While the case has been mentioned before a court in December, it is the first time he has been seen on screen since his arrest — and spoken.
Akram’s father Sajid Akram was killed by police during the shooting at Bondi on December 14, which took place while a Jewish event Chanukah by the Sea was being held in Archer Park.
Fifteen innocent people were killed and dozens more were injured.
Wearing a green prison jumper with his hands on his lap, Akram sat in front of a table and spoke only when Deputy Chief Magistrate Sharon Freund asked if he heard a discussion about an extension of suppression orders.
“Yeah,” he replied.
The court orders were first made just prior to Christmas and cover the identities of dozens of survivors of the shooting.
But they contain a carve-out which allows for the survivors to self-identify if they wish to tell their stories publicly.
Lawyer visited Akram in prison
Naveed Akram has been charged with dozens of offences.
Outside court, Akram’s lawyer Ben Archbold said it was too early to say what plea his client would be entering and he was yet to receive the brief of evidence.
He said his client, who is in custody in Goulburn supermax prison, was doing “as well as can be expected”.
“Everyone knows it’s supermax … very onerous conditions,” Mr Archbold told journalists.
Asked whether his client had given a police interview, Mr Archbold replied: “All we’ve done is start the process, we’re waiting for the brief to be served, there’s nothing more I can say.”
Mr Archbold confirmed he had been to supermax to visit Akram in person.
Asked how Akram seemed during the visit, he replied, “He’s just a client, and he’s a client that needs to be represented and we don’t let our personal view get in the way of our professional obligations”.
In December, court documents detailing police allegations in the case were made public, including that Naveed and Sajid Akram allegedly conducted firearms training in regional NSW in October.
The police statement of alleged facts says in a video they filmed, the two are seen “firing shotguns and moving in a tactical manner”.
The court documents also refer to a separate video allegedly found on Naveed Akram’s phone, in which the men sit in front of an Islamic State group flag and long-arm firearms.
Naveed Akram is recorded appearing to recite in Arabic a passage from the Koran before both men “make a number of statements regarding their motivation for the Bondi attack and condemning the acts of ‘Zionists’,” the alleged police facts say.
The court documents also say when the two arrived in the vicinity of Archer Park, they allegedly threw several improvised explosive devices into the crowd but they did not detonate.
The case will return to court in April.
Want to get ABC News at the top of your Google search results?
Here’s how to see more from ABC News
