New Zealand shooter emotionless during hearing
The man who killed 51 people at two mosques in New Zealand last year looked his surviving victims and their families in the eye on Monday (24 August) as they recounted the horror of the deadliest shooting in the country's history.
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.
Prosecutors said Tarrant had carefully planned the attack to cause maximum carnage. . .
It was revealed that he expressed regret for not taking more lives and that he had intended to burn down the mosques after the shootings.
Crown prosecutor Barnaby Hawes says Tarrant spent years purchasing high-powered firearms, researched mosque layouts by flying a drone over his primary target, and timed his attacks to maximise casualties.
Handcuffed and dressed in grey prison clothes, Tarrant sat with hands clasped for most of the first morning of his sentencing hearings.
Maysoon Salama, 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.
"I can't forgive you. You gave yourself the authority to take the souls of 51 innocent people, their only crime in your eyes is being Muslims. You injured 49 and shattered the dreams of so many innocent people."
Tarrant showed little emotion, and looked directly at those delivering victim impact statements.
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.
