Australian police have charged a 35-year-old man with allegedly stealing camera equipment from one of the 15 people killed in last December’s antisemitic terror attack on a Chanukah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach.
The alleged thief was himself a photographer hired to work the same Chanukah by the Sea event where Peter Meagher, a 61-year-old retired police detective-sergeant, was shot dead on Dec. 14 while on a freelance assignment, New South Wales Police said. The man allegedly took Meagher’s gear in the chaos following the shooting and pawned it days later.
Detectives executed a search warrant at a home in Sydney’s northwestern suburbs Wednesday morning, where they recovered a camera, a set of handcuffs, electronic devices, and a small quantity of white crystalline powder, according to the department.
“Detectives identified that one of the victims, a 61-year-old retired police officer and photographer, had his camera equipment stolen in the aftermath of the attack,” police said in a statement. They allege the suspect “was a photographer at the Hanukah event who stole the deceased 61-year-old’s camera equipment before pawning it days later.”
The man was charged with grand larceny and drug possession, granted strict conditional bail, and is scheduled to appear in Blacktown Local Court on June 22.
The arrest brings a small measure of resolution to a months-long search by Meagher’s family. His widow, Virginia Meagher, made a public appeal on social media in March asking for help locating her late husband’s camera, which she said carried deep personal significance.
Meagher, a beloved figure at Sydney’s Randwick Rugby Club, was one of 15 people gunned down when a Muslim father and son opened fire on roughly 1,000 people gathered at Archer Park. The dead included 11 men, three women, and a 10-year-old girl. More than 40 others were wounded.
The Islamic State later claimed credit for the assault.
One of the attackers, Indian national and Australian permanent resident Sajid Akram, 50, was shot dead by police at the scene. His son, 24-year-old Australian citizen Naveed Akram, was wounded, survived, and is now on remand at Goulburn Correctional Centre awaiting trial on 59 charges including 15 counts of murder, 44 counts of attempted murder, committing a terrorist act, and the public display of a prohibited terrorist symbol.
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