The perpetrator of the massacre of 51 Muslims in New Zealand is sentenced to life imprisonment
The self-confessed perpetrator of the massacre of 51 Muslims in an attack on two mosques in New Zealand on 15 March 2019 was sentenced on Thursday to life imprisonment without parole, the first time such a sentence has been handed down in the Oceanic country. "His crimes are so evil that even if he is kept in prison until death, that will not exhaust the punishment and sentence they require," Justice Cameron Mander of Christchurch High Court told 29-year-old Australian Brenton Tarrant. Tarrant was convicted of 51 counts of murder, 40 counts of attempted murder and one count of terrorism for the semi-automatic weapons attack, which he partially relayed via social networks, on the Al-Noor and Linwood mosques in Christchurch city when the traditional Friday prayers took place.
The sentence was handed down after three days in which over 90 survivors of the attack and relatives of the victims gave evidence in court, after Tarrant pleaded guilty to all the charges in March and decided to give up his defence. Judge Mander, who described the events in detail and spoke about each of the victims, explained that the massacre Tarrant planned and perpetrated "has no place here and has no place anywhere".
He was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the 51 counts of murder, while each of the 40 counts of attempted murder carried a penalty of 12 years in prison and the crime of terrorism another life sentence. Mander's unprecedented decision to apply life imprisonment without parole builds on a legislative reform introduced a decade ago for the most serious crimes of murder. "If not now, when," said the magistrate, who also pointed out that Tarrant declared through his public defender his intention to accept the maximum penalty, but never showed "remorse" or "public recognition" for this massacre perpetrated with "heartless indifference". "You are an egomaniac", the judge remarked to Tarrant, who remained impassive and silent throughout the process.