Brenton Tarrant, the Australian man who murdered 51 Muslims at prayer in the Christchurch terror attack, has been sentenced to life without parole. It’s the first time a full life term without the possibility of parole has been imposed in New Zealand.
Tarrant, 29, pleaded guilty to 51 charges of murder, 40 charges of attempted murder, and one charge of terrorism earlier this year.
He will die in prison.
Tarrant offered no apology or public acknowledgement of the harm he caused, which Justice Cameron Mander noted in his sentencing.
“You present as a deeply impaired person motivated by a base hatred of people you perceive to be different from yourself,” Mander said.
“You have offered no apology or public acknowledgement of the harms you have caused. While I appreciate that you have forsaken the opportunity to use these proceedings as a platform, you appear neither contrite nor ashamed.”
Tarrant reportedly showed no emotion, and waived his right to make any sentencing submissions. He instructed his standby lawyer to tell the court he did not oppose a life sentence.
During sentencing, Mander read aloud descriptions of Tarrants’ victims, sharing remarks the families had told him.
“You committed mass murder,” Mander told Tarrant.
“You slaughtered unarmed and defenceless people.”
One of Tarrant’s victims was Mucaad Ibrahim, a three-year-old toddler. Tarrant executed him.
“No parents can recover from the murder of such a small child,” Mander said.
More than 90 victims, including those who lost loved ones in the attack, addressed the court during sentencing.
One of them was Ahad Nabi, whose father Haj Mohemmed Daoud Nabi was killed in the shooting.
“You shot at defenceless people who did not know what was going on until it was too late,” Nabi told Tarrant in a statement read before the court.
“Your actions were a gutless character of a person. There’s nothing heroic about your shooting. Your father was a garbageman, and you became trash of society. He is ashamed of your identity. You deserve to be buried in a landfill.
“Your wish is to make this world a racist cult of one colour, but you will never succeed.”
Nabi turned to the Mander: “I ask from you, your honour, that this scum of the world never be allowed to walk free from prison in his lifetime.”
