Bondi Beach gunman Naveed Akram made his first appearance in a Sydney court via video link after a senior judge extended an existing suppression order in the case.
The 24-year-old is charged with 59 charges, including 15 counts of murder and terrorist attack charges over the December shooting.
The case went to court in December, but this is the first time he has appeared on screen and spoken since his arrest.
Akram’s father, Sajid Akram, was killed by police in a shooting in Bondi on December 14 during the Hanukkah by the Sea Jewish event at Archer Park.
Fifteen innocent people were killed and dozens more injured.
Wearing a green prison jumper and with his hands on his knees, Akram sat at a table and spoke only when Deputy Chief Justice Sharon Freund asked if he had heard arguments about extending the suppression order.
“Yes,” he answered.
The court order, first issued just before Christmas, targets the identities of dozens of survivors of the shooting.
But they include clippings to allow survivors to self-identify if they wish to tell their stories publicly.
Lawyer visits Akram in prison
Naveed Akram has been charged with dozens of crimes.
Outside court, Mr Akram’s lawyer Ben Archibald said it was too early to say what argument his client would make and he had not yet received any briefs.
He said his client, who is being held at Goulburn Supermax Prison, was “performing as expected”.
“Everyone knows it’s a supermax… a very troubling situation,” Archibald told reporters.
Asked whether his client had complied with the police interview, Archibald said: “All we have done is start the process and we are waiting for the brief to be sent to us. There is nothing more I can say.”
Mr Archibald confirmed he had visited Supermax to visit Mr Akram in person.
Asked how Akram was doing during his visit, he said: “He’s just a client, a client that needs to be represented, and we don’t let our personal views get in the way of our professional obligations.”
In December, court documents were released detailing police allegations in the case, including that Naveed and Sajid Akram allegedly conducted firearms training in regional NSW in October.
Police said video taken by police shows two people “firing shotguns and moving tactically.”
Court documents also refer to another video allegedly found on Naveed Akram’s cell phone, in which men are seen sitting in front of an Islamic State flag and a long-range gun.
Naveed Akram was recorded reciting verses from the Quran in Arabic before both men “made a number of statements about the motives for the Bondi attack and condemned the actions of the ‘Zionists,'” the police statement alleges.
Court documents also state that when the two arrived near Archer Park, they allegedly threw several improvised explosive devices into the crowd, but none of them exploded.
The case is scheduled to return to court in April.