Christchurch mosque gunman: ask Australia to pay jail time

By RNZ

Some mosque shooting victims want Australia to pay the bill for incarcerating the Christchurch mosque terrorist.

This comes as 29-year-old Brenton Tarrant, who was sentenced last week to life in prison without parole, is classified as a terrorist entity alongside the likes of Isis and the Royal IRA.

The Australian citizen, who moved to this country three years ago for the sole purpose of carrying out the attack that killed 51 people, is being held in solitary confinement in Auckland’s maximum security prison.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she would first speak with the victims and their families before deciding whether he should be sent back to his home country or continue to be detained here at a cost of $ 5,000 a day.

John Milne, who lost his 14-year-old son, Sayyad Milne, said it was important that he stay here.

“We cannot let him go. We have lost control of what happens to him. You see that governments change their minds. They change. We do not know which government we are going to have this time.”

But he did not believe that this country should be forced to pay the bill, which based on the $ 3.6 million budgeted for his first two years of incarceration, could reach tens of millions of dollars.

“I think Australia should pay the full cost of what we have already spent, they should pay that plus the continuum. They need to spend a lot. There is a big bill for this now, he is Australian, not a Kiwi, we shouldn’t have to pay for anything. of that “.

Abdul Aziz, who pursued the gunman from the Linwood Mosque, said he would prefer that the millions spent on the gunman be redirected to educational programs aimed at ending racism.

“Make sure we have some kind of classes or some things, you know, for the next generation. [that with] bullying or this racism and the things that we try to eliminate, you know, [with] more education. That money, you know we can do much better things than spend it on that coward. “

But before being sent back to his home country, Abdul Aziz would want a cast iron guarantee that the terrorist would never get out of prison.

“There should be no change when I go there. [They should] follow the same punishment you received from New Zealand. “

The secretary general of the Canterbury Muslim Association and one of the wounded in the Al Noor mosque, Feroze Ditta, said he should remain in New Zealand.

“He committed the crime in New Zealand. He was tried by the courts of New Zealand, is [serving a] sentence in a New Zealand prison. That’s where it should stay. If for any reason you have the need to cross into Australia [it depends on the sentence and] if the Australians would honor that. “

As a terrorist entity on a list of 19 terrorist organizations, the attacker could have his assets seized and action could be taken against anyone who wants to support him or his white nationalist cause.

Feroze Ditta said this was a hit.

“He also warns others. Maybe whoever was supporting him, chances are that if they catch him or financially support him, they could also face the law.”

A spokesman for the Prime Minister said that so far there were no deadlines for consulting victims on where the terrorist should serve his sentence.

His Australian counterpart Scott Morrison said he was ready to discuss the matter further.