Christchurch: New Zealand mosque gunman Brenton Tarrant was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Thursday for the massacre of 51 Muslim worshippers last year.
Judge Cameron Mander said Tarrant’s crimes were so wicked that a life time in jail could not begin to atone for them. He said they had caused enormous loss and hurt and stemmed from a warped and malignant ideology.
While announcing a sentence unprecedented in New Zealand legal history, Mander said, “It is incumbent on the court to respond in a way that decisively rejects such vicious malevolence”.
The judge said Tarrant had failed in his aim of promoting right-wing extremism as he gunned down victims in cold blood but the New Zealand Muslim community had still paid a terrible price.
“It was brutal and beyond callous. Your actions were inhuman,” the judge said.
On imposing a sentence of life without parole, Justice Mander said, “If not here, then when?”
A sentence without parole means the offender will not be given the opportunity to leave prison after serving only a portion of their total sentence.
Last year, Tarrant was charged with “terrorism”, according to the police.
The March 2019 attacks targeting people praying at the Al Noor and Linwood mosques shocked New Zealand and prompted new laws banning the deadliest types of semi-automatic weapons.
Tarrant pleaded guilty to 51 charges of murder, 40 counts of attempted murder and one charge of terrorism in March this year.
