Naveed Akram has been charged with terrorism, 15 counts of murder, dozens of counts of causing wounds to a person with the intent to kill, and planting explosives.
Image: IANS
The mother of Naveed Akram, accused of a deadly antisemitic shooting at Bondi Beach in which 15 people were killed, faces threats and abuse, as his lawyer argues for the protection of her identity in court.
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 the 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 notorious terrorist act this country has ever seen," his lawyer Richard Wilson told the court this week.
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 was 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 10.30pm.
The home had been vandalised and a pork chop had been 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 that 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. - AFP