The man who killed 51 people at two mosques in New Zealand in 2019 looked his surviving victims and their families in the eye on Monday as they recounted the horror of a massacre which prosecutors said he had carefully planned to cause maximum carnage.
Brenton Tarrant, the gunman who shot and killed worshippers in the Christchurch mosque attacks, is seen during his sentencing at the High Court in Christchurch, New Zealand on Monday. Photo: VCG
Australian national Brenton Tarrant, 29, has pleaded guilty to 51 murders, 40 attempted murders and one charge of committing a terrorist act during the shooting rampage in the city of Christchurch which he livestreamed on Facebook.
He faces life in prison, possibly without parole, in what would be a first for New Zealand when a High Court judge sentences him later this week for carrying out the deadliest shooting in the country's history. Handcuffed and dressed in gray prison clothes, Tarrant sat with hands clasped for most of the first morning of his sentencing hearings. He showed little emotion, and looked directly at those delivering victim impact statements.
The mother of Ata Elayyan, who was slain in the shootings, told the hearing that losing her son was like feeling the pain of labor all over again.
Maysoon Salama, speaking just meters away from Tarrant, said she constantly wondered what her son was thinking in his last moments "armed only with his courage" after he was gunned down at the Al Noor mosque on March 15, 2019.
"I can't forgive you... you gave yourself the authority to take the souls of 51 people. Our only crime in your eyes is that we are Muslims," she said.
Live reporting from the courtroom is banned, and other restrictions have been put in place on what the media can report.
Newspaper headline: NZ shooter emotionless at hearing