Christchurch court hears graphic account of mosque killings on first day of Australian gunman Brenton Tarrant's sentencing hearing
ABCA New Zealand court has heard in chilling detail how the Australian terrorist who carried out attacks on two mosques last year deliberately and methodically killed 51 people and injured 40 more because he wanted to reduce the country's immigration rates. Key points: The court heard Tarrant told police he wanted to burn each mosque to the ground After attacking two mosques, he was on his way to a third when he was arrested Two months before the March 15 killings, he drove to Christchurch on a "reconnaissance" mission Brenton Harrison Tarrant, 29, sat impassively in the dock of the High Court in Christchurch as Crown Prosecutor Barnaby Hawes opened the sentencing hearing by reading a blow-by-blow account of the crime, describing how Tarrant fired repeatedly and directly at men, women and children — including those already badly injured and crying out for help. The court heard that in January 2019 — two months before the March 15 killings — he drove to Christchurch on a "reconnaissance" mission. Then on March 15, 2019, Tarrant left the home he rented in Dunedin and drove to Christchurch, on what was to become, in Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's words, one of New Zealand's "darkest days". The imam of Al Noor mosque, Gamal Fouda, 45 — who was the first to speak — told the court he would never forget seeing "the hatred of a brainwashed terrorist".