Over a period of three days, 91 of his victims read statements to him in court. But the terrorist who attacked two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand – killing dozens of Muslim worshippers at prayer – told a judge on Wednesday that he would not address the court himself.
There had been fears the Australian man would use the sentencing hearing as a platform to spread his anti-Islamic and extremist views. Brenton Tarrant, 29, a self-professed white supremacist, broadcast his massacre at the two mosques live on Facebook and published an extremist manifesto.
The gunman admitted in March to 51 counts of murder, 40 of attempted murder, and a terrorism charge; it reversed an earlier, not-guilty plea to the 15 March 2019 attacks.
Many of those bereaved or injured have urged the court in a hearing that began on Monday – and has included dozens of emotional and angry victim impact statements – to give him a sentence of life without the possibility of parole.
He would be the first person in New Zealand, under current laws, to receive such a term.
On Thursday, Justice Cameron Mander was due to hear submissions from prosecutors, and from Tarrant – who sacked his lawyers in July, and has represented himself at this hearing – about what the sentence should be. Tensions have run high among his victims about what he could use his time in court to say.
But instead, at a hearing between the judge and lawyers after Wednesday’s court session, Tarrant confirmed to the judge that he did not intend to speak in court. Instead, a lawyer on standby – appointed earlier to the court to assist the terrorist if he chose to accept legal representation – will make a brief statement on his behalf.
It is not known what the gunman has instructed his standby lawyer to say. The hearing will resume on Thursday morning.
source https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/26/christchurch-gunman-says-he-will-not-speak-at-sentencing-hearing
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