Suspect in Australia massacre wakes up, is charged

Naveed Akram, 24, had been in a coma since the Bondi Beach shooting that killed 15.

- BY CHARLOTTE GRAHAM-MCLAY, KRISTEN GELINEAU AND ROD MCGUIRK

MOURNERS attend funeral services on Wednesday for Yaakov Levitan Halevi.

(SAEED KHAN AFP/Getty Images)

A suspect in Sydney's Bondi Beach massacre was charged with 59 offenses including 15 counts of murder Wednesday, as hundreds of mourners gathered in Sydney to begin funerals for the victims.

Two shooters killed 15 people Sunday in an antisemitic attack targeting Jews celebrating Hanukkah at Bondi Beach, and more than 20 other people were still being treated in hospitals. All of those slain by the gunmen who have been identified so far were Jewish.

As investigations unfold, Australia faces a social and political reckoning about antisemitism, gun control and whether police protections for Jews at events such as Sunday’s were sufficient given the threats they faced.

Naveed Akram, the 24-year-old alleged shooter, was charged Wednesday after waking from a coma in a Sydney hospital, where he has been since police shot him and his father at Bondi. His father, Sajid, 50, died at the scene.

The charges include one count of murder for each fatality and one count of committing a terrorist act, police said.

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.

Akram’s lawyer did not enter pleas and did not request his client’s release on bail during a video court appearance from his hospital bed, a court statement said.

Akram is being represented by Legal Aid NSW, which has a policy of refusing media comment on behalf of clients. He is expected to remain under police guard in the hospital until he is well enough to be transferred to a prison.