New Zealand mosque shooter sentenced to life in prison

A New Zealand judge on Thursday sentenced the white supremacist who carried out mass shootings at two mosques in 2019 to life in prison without parole.

Brenton Harrison Tarrant, 29, is the first person to receive New Zealand’s maximum sentence, The Associated Press reported. Tarrant killed 51 worshippers in the shootings.

Judge Cameron Mander called Tarrant’s actions “inhuman,” adding, “you deliberately killed a 3-year-old infant by shooting him in the head as he clung to the leg of his father.”

Tarrant’s attack, which he streamed live on Facebook, prompted changes to both social media policies and New Zealand gun regulation, which banned certain semi-automatic weapons.

“The offender’s actions are a painful and harrowing mark in New Zealand’s history,” Crown prosecutor Mark Zarifeh said, adding that Tarrant’s goal was to kill as many people as possible.

The sentence comes after four days of hearings, during which 90 victims and family members were allowed to share their experiences and directly address Tarrant.

One of them, Sara Qasem, described the loss of her father Abdelfattah.

“All a daughter ever wants is her dad. I want to go on more road trips with him. I want to smell his garden-sourced cooking. His cologne,” she said Thursday. “I want to hear him tell me more about the olive trees in Palestine. I want to hear his voice. My dad’s voice. My baba’s voice.”

Tarrant, who had fired his attorneys, did not speak at the hearing and told Mander through a court-appointed lawyer that he did not oppose the sentence.

Although Tarrant reportedly told assessors he has renounced extremism, Mander questioned his sincerity and said he had not demonstrated any remorse or empathy for his victims. In March, Tarrant pleaded guilty to 51 counts of murder, 40 counts of attempted murder and a single count of terrorism, reversing a previous not-guilty plea.