Bondi victims’ funerals begin as gunman to face charges
Kat Wong and Farid Farid |
The first funerals will be held for victims of the Bondi terror attack as police to prepare to charge the surviving gunman.
Rabbi Eli Schlanger and Rabbi Yaakov Levitan will be buried shortly after services on Wednesday.
The religious leaders were among 15 killed when Sajid Akram, 50, and his son Naveed, 24, fired at scores of people at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Sunday night as they celebrated the Jewish festival of lights.
Rabbi Schlanger’s funeral will be held at Chabad of Bondi, just a kilometre away from the terrorist attack, while Rabbi Levitan’s service will take place at Macquarie Park in Sydney’s north.
Jews are traditionally buried within 24 hours from time of death but coronial investigations has meant funerals are being held later.
Rabbi Levitan has been remembered as a devoted husband and father.
Similarly, Rabbi Schlanger – who helped organise the Hanukkah event targeted by the gunmen – left behind a wife and five young children, including a two-month-old baby.
Other funerals are expected to take place in the coming days as La Perouse Public School remembered 10-year-old victim Matilda as a “little ray of sunshine”.
There are 22 injured patients remaining in Sydney hospitals, nine in a critical condition and 13 serious but stable.
Police shot dead the 50-year-old, while his son remains in hospital in a critical condition under police guard.
The younger Akram awoke from his coma on Tuesday afternoon, NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon confirmed.
Officers would have wait for his medication to wear off before questioning the gunman and Mr Lanyon said he expected Akram would be charged later on Wednesday.
Overnight, police in India confirmed to Reuters the dead shooter was originally from the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, but had limited contact with his family.
“The family members have expressed no knowledge of his radical mindset or activities, nor of the circumstances that led to his radicalisation,” state police said in a statement.
Police in Telangana, the state in which Hyderabad is located, said factors that led the gunmen’s radicalisation “appear to have no connection with India or any local influence in Telangana”.
Counter-terrorism investigators in Australia are poring over swathes of seized material as they try to uncover how father-and-son shooters committed one of the worst mass shootings in recent history.
The premeditated actions were “a barbaric attack against Jewish Australians”, Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said.
“It appears the alleged killers were interested only in a quest for a death tally,” she told reporters.
The top cop said early indications pointed to a terrorist attack inspired by Islamic State, also known as ISIS or Daesh.
Australia’s National Imams Council has consistently condemned the terrorist group, saying it does not represent Islam or the Muslim world in any way.
Mr Lanyon said officers found two home-made ISIS flags in a car, registered to Naveed, where they also defused two improvised explosive devices.
He also confirmed the pair had travelled to the Philippines but noted the reasons for the trip were still being investigated.
NSW Premier Chris Minns indicated parliament would be recalled before Christmas to pass tougher gun laws as he urged NSW residents to continue donating more blood to victims.
Mr Albanese said national laws would be strengthened to limit the number of guns per person and citizenship requirements in owning them.
Authorities have ramped up security around Jewish sites, as well as Adelaide Oval before Wednesday’s Test cricket match.
Lifeline 13 11 14
beyondblue 1300 22 4636
AAP
