Terrorist Tarrant’s evil plot revealed

Christchurch mass murderer Brenton Tarrant during his sentencing hearing at Christchurch High Court on Monday. Picture: Getty Images

CHRISTCHURCH:

Australian terrorist Brenton Tarrant faces the longest sentence ever delivered in New Zealand as a court on Monday heard how his mosque attacks had been meticulously planned and callously carried out.

The self-proclaimed white supremacist murdered 51 men, women and children, some injured and crying for help, but wanted to have “shot more than he did”, the first day of his sentence hearing at the High Court in Christchurch was told.

An apparently emotionless Tarrant, 29, who grew up in Grafton, inspected his fingernails as prosecutor Barnaby Hawes described the attack on the youngest victim, threeyear-old

Mucad Ibrahim. Mucad had been clinging to his father’s leg in Al Noor Mosque, the first of two targeted by Tarrant in March last year.

“The defendant aimed directly at Mucad and fired two precisely aimed shots,” Mr Hawes said. “He walked out the front exit; as he did so, he checked prone victims to ensure they had been killed.”

With police snipers on the court roof, the hearing is being held under strict reporting restrictions to prevent Tarrant using it as a platform for his extremist views.

He told police he had intended to “kill as many people as he could”, then burn down the mosques. Tarrant, who

sacked his lawyers and is representing himself, had earlier pleaded guilty to 51 counts of murder, 40 of attempted murder and one of terrorism.

A murder conviction carries a mandatory life sentence and Tarrant is expected to become the first person jailed in NZ for life without parole.

Wearing grey prison clothing and surrounded in the dock by three police officers, the Australian remained silent as Mr Hawes delivered a chilling summary of facts.

Victims’ families and survivors of the massacre have made more than 200 victim impact statements.

“He admitted (to police) going into both mosques intending to kill as many people

as he could,” Mr Hawes said.

As he live-streamed the carnage via a camera on his head recording the attacks, Tarrant was arrested driving to attack a third mosque in Ashburton, about an hour south of Christchurch.

“He stated that he wanted to have shot more people than he did,” Mr Hawes said.

“In his interview, the defendant referred to his attacks as ‘terror attacks’ … motivated by his ideological beliefs, and he intended to instil fear into those he described as ‘invaders’, including the Muslim population or more generally non-European immigrants.”

The court was told Tarrant arrived in NZ in 2017, based himself in Dunedin and built

up a collection of high-powered firearms on which he had written references to historic battles, figures of the Crusades and more recent terror attacks and symbols.

On March 15 last year, he dressed in military-style camouflage clothing including a full tactical vest with at least seven fully loaded magazines and a scabbard holding a bayonet-style knife and drove to Christchurch.

Al Noor imam Gamal Fouda said he was in the pulpit “and saw the hate in the eyes of a brainwashed terrorist” before telling Tarrant: “Your hatred is unnecessary.”

Judge Cameron Mander is expected to hand down a sentence on Thursday.