NZ mosque shooter sentenced to life without parole for killing 51 Muslims

A New Zealand judge sentenced supremacist Brenton Tarrant to life in prison without parole on Thursday for killing 51 Muslims within the country’s deadliest shooting, saying the sentence was not enough punishment for the ‘wicked’ crimes.

It was the primary time a court in New Zealand had sentenced an individual to prison for the remainder of their life.

Tarrant, a 29-year-old Australian, admitted to 51 charges of murder, 40 counts of attempted murder and one charge of committing a terrorism during the 2019 shooting rampage at two Christchurch mosques which he livestreamed on Facebook.

High Court Judge Cameron Mander said in Christchurch on Thursday that a finite term wouldn't be sufficient. “Your crimes, however, are so wicked that albeit you're detained until you die it'll not exhaust the wants of punishment and denunciation,” said Mander in handing down the sentence. “As far as i'm ready to gauge, you're barren of any empathy for your victims,” he said.

The judge asked Tarrant before handing down the sentence if he had any comment. Dressed in grey prison clothes and surrounded by guards, Tarrant nodded when asked if he was aware he had the proper to form submissions, but he didn't speak.

Prosecutors told the court earlier that Tarrant wanted to instill fear in those he described as invaders which he carefully planned the attacks to cause maximum carnage. “Today the legal procedures for this heinous crime are done. No punishment will bring our loved ones back,” said Gamal Fouda, the imam of Al Noor mosque which was targeted. “Extremists are all the same. Whether they use religion, nationalism or the other ideology. All extremists, they represent hate. But we are here today. We respect love, compassion, Muslim and non-Muslim people of religion and of no faith.”

Tarrant, who represented himself during the hearings but didn't make submissions, said through a lawyer in court on Thursday that he didn't oppose the prosecution’s application for a life without parole sentence. “The hatred that lies at the guts of your hostility to particular members of the community that you simply came to the present country to murder has no place here – it has no place anywhere,” Mander said.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she was relieved that ‘that person will never see the sunshine of day’. “The trauma of March 15 isn't easily healed but today I hope is that the last where we've any cause to listen to or utter the name of the terrorist behind it. His deserves to be a lifetime of complete and utter silence,” she said. Ardern praised survivors and families of the victims who gave emotionally charged statements in court in the week , calling for Tarrant to be sentenced to life without parole. “I want to acknowledge the strength of our Muslim community who shared their words in court over the past few days,” she said. “You relived the horrific events of March 15 to chronicle what happened that day and therefore the pain it's left behind.” “Nothing will take the pain away but I hope you felt the arms of latest Zealand around you thru this whole process, and that i hope you still feel that through all the times that follow.”

Tarrant had asserted during a pre-sentence report that he wasn't racist or xenophobic, the judge said. Rather, Tarrant said he felt ostracised and had wanted to wreck society, and had acted on delusional beliefs.

NZ mosque shooter sentenced to life without parole for killing 51 Muslims