The white supremacist who slaughtered 51 worshipers by two New Zealand mosques was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without the possibility of release. The judge imposed the maximum available sentence on 29-year-old Australian gunman Brenton Harrison Tarrant, the first time the sentence has been imposed in New Zealand.
Judge Cameron Mander said Tarrant’s crimes were so bad that a life in prison could not begin to penalize her. He said they had caused enormous loss and hurt and stemmed from a skewed and malignant ideology.
“Your actions were inhumane,” Mander said. “You deliberately killed a 3-year-old child while holding on to his father’s leg.”
The March 2019 attacks targeted people praying at the Al Noor and Linwood mosques shocking New Zealand and demanding new laws banning the deadliest types of semi-automatic weapons. They also demanded global changes to social media protocols after the shooter livestreamed his attack on Facebook.
During the four-day hearing, 90 survivors and family members recounted the horror of the attacks and the trauma they felt.
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Some chose to call on the shooter and give him the finger. Others called him a monster, a coward, a rat. Some sang verses from the Qur’an or addressed it in Arabic. A few spoke softly to Tarrant and said they forgave him.
Tarrant had earlier dismissed his lawyers and told the judge he did not want to speak at the hearing. A standby lawyer appointed by the court told the judge that Tarrant did not oppose a life sentence without release.
Tarrant in March pleaded guilty to 51 counts of murder, 40 counts of attempted murder and one count of terrorism, repeating his previously not guilty pleadings.
Prosecutors said Tarrant had flown a drone over the Al Noor mosque and investigated the layout as he carefully planned his attacks. He came with six rifles, including two AR-15s.
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Crown prosecutor Mark Zarifeh said he intended to kill as many people as possible.
“The criminal’s actions are a painful and horrific sign in the history of New Zealand,” he said.
Tarrant was noticeably thinner in his conviction than when he was first arrested. He did not show the bravery he did on his first appearance in court the day after the attacks, when he made a gesture sometimes adopted by white supremacists.
Dressed in a gray prison training suit, Tarrant showed little emotion at his conviction. He looked at the speakers, occasionally giving a small nod or covering his mouth as he laughed at jokes, often made at his expense.
Sara Qasem spoke on Thursday during the four-day hearing about her beloved father Abdelfattah, who was killed in the attacks.
“All a daughter ever wants is her father. I want to go on more road trips with him. I want to smell his garden’s worried cook. His cologne,” she said. “I want to hear him tell more about the olive trees in Palestine. I want to hear his voice. The voice of my father. The voice of my baby.”
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