NZ survivor to mosque gunman: ‘You are the loser’

Christchurch, Aug 25: A man who was shot and wounded in the New Zealand mosque attacks had a simple message for the mass-murderer responsible: “You are the loser, and we are the winners.” Mirwais Waziri was among the survivors and family members who spoke on the second day of a four-day sentencing hearing for white supremacist Brenton Harrison Tarrant, who killed 51 worshippers at two mosques during the March 2019 attacks. Waziri said Tarrant had not shown any remorse during the hearing and so instead of giving a victim’s impact statement he wanted to deliver the gunman a message.

Coming from Afghanistan, Waziri said, he was sometimes associated with terrorism but now he’d been freed. “You took that name from me,” Waziri said.

“Today, you are the terrorist.” His comments elicited spontaneous applause from other victims in the courtroom. Others told Tarrant during their statements that he was a coward, a monster, a rat. Tarrant broke his impassive facade a couple of times to smirk at survivors when they made fun of him —one told him he should read the Quran during his plentiful free time, another said he was still alive because Tarrant didn’t know how to shoot, except from point-blank range. The 29-year-old Australian gunman in March pleaded guilty to murder, attempted murder, and terrorism, reversing an earlier not guilty plea. He could become the first person in New Zealand to be sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, the toughest sentence available. Tarrant is noticeably thinner than when he was first arrested.

At the current hearing, he hasn’t shown the brazenness he did at his first court appearance the day after the attacks, when he made a hand gesture sometimes adopted by white supremacists. During Tuesday’s hearing, relatives and survivors described how more than a year after the attacks, they were still having trouble sleeping, enjoying life and providing for their families.