New Zealand's Dilemma

"It's difficult to see what more could've been done. [Tarrant] is an unreliable witness and his narrative should be treated with caution."

"Pleading guilty to charges where his guilt is certain can't be seen to be irrational."

N.Z. Crown lawyer Barnaby Hawes 

"I very distinctly remember that I left court after the sentencing thinking 'Right, the trauma chapter is now closed, time to heal, time to focus on your own mental well-being', but then it pops up again and again,"

"It will be just an image [on-screen image of the mass murderer] that I am looking at, because he means absolutely nothing to me at this stage."

"I suspect one of his main motivations to do this is to open up traumas again and I won't let him succeed in doing that - he just wants his limelight and to be relevant again."

"He took the right of life of my brother and 50 others, and then we're going to sit through now and talk about the legal arguments of his right to appeal."

"When you place those two together, they are morally not comparable."

Aya al-Umari, who lost her older brother Hussein in the attack on Al Noor mosque  

Extraordinary arrangements are in place in Wellington as a convicted terrorist addresses the country's Court of Appeal. (ABC News: Che Chorley)

Brenton Tarrant, 35

"I did not have the mindframe or mental health required to be making informed decisions at that time."

"I think the issue is, did I really know what I wanted to do or what would be a good idea?"

"No, I didn't actually ... I was making choices, but they were not choices made ‍voluntarily and they were not choices made rationally due to the [prison] conditions."

Brenton Tarrant, white supremacist, New Zealand mass murderer  

Originally from Australia, the self-professed white nationalist of 35,went to New Zealand for an express purpose in 2019. He planned to acquire weapons and to attack mosques for the purpose of killing as many Muslims as he could manage. And he succeeded to a monstrous degree, taking the lives of 51 people at two mosques, including those of children, women, the elderly and an assortment of other New Zealand Muslims, some there to study or to pursue professions, others having arrived as refugees to settle in a place of haven where they thought they would be safe from violence.

 

At the time of his attacks of the two mosques in Christchurch, he livestreamed the massacre as it was ongoing, filmed his face as he proceeded to mow down people at prayer, leaving overwhelming evidence of his guilt. "Keeping this case alive is a source of immense distress" to the victims of the atrocity, pointed out Crown lawyer Madeleine Laracy. "It doesn't allow them to heal."

 

Serving life with no chance of parole, Tarrant is appealing his sentence earned by his cold-blooded, planned and prosecuted murder of 51 people, claiming that it was not his intention to plead guilty, having done so was "irrational", but circumstances induced him to do so by solitary and austere prison conditions. In response to his move to have a retrial, and despite that experts ruled Tarrant was fit to enter pleas, Crown lawyers opposed his appeal, given no evidence existed or claims he was seriously mentally ill.

 

Lawyers on either side, those who supported and those opposing his sentence appeal, studiously skirted making mention of his white supremacist views, the topic avoided during the week-long hearing where no mention was made of the hate motivating Tarrant's crimes that he cited as reason for committing the massacres.

 

New Zealand's courts were fully engaged in suppressing the racism that led Brenton Tarrant to commit mass murder. He had made reference to other massacres committed by perpetrators of mass murder that he admired and in fact emulated, before  his own horrendous attack. A legal ban was instituted on his racist manifesto as well as the video he livestreamed at the time of the shooting. 

 

In deciding to recant his guilty pleas, a three-judge panel in Wellington at the Court of Appeal hard final arguments by Crown lawyers opposed to the application to have his admissions to charges of terrorism, murder and attempted murder in 2020 discarded. Should he be allowed to revoke his guilty pleas, the case would return for a full trial in court.

 

The appeal bid was revealed before nine reporters, nine lawyers, a few court staff and an empty public gallery, with the intention of the court seeking to limit public exposure to Tarrant, his views and his motivation; no one permitted to view the evidence as the appeal bid unfolded. The incarcerant's image was not visible in the courtroom other than when he gave evidence while he watched the proceedings by video conference from Auckland Prison. 

"What happened in New Zealand, it was unprecedented and at every point we've had to create new methods to deal with the situation."

"We're learning as we go." 

"You do need to have some kind of objective transparency, where the person who is accused can be seen and some of what they are saying can be heard," he said.

"But at the same time, you've got to make sure that the platform they're given is not hijacked for other purposes."

Waikato University professor of law Alexander Gillespie  

 New Zealand mosque assaults victims BCC

 

Beware The Deadly Power of Unreasoning Racist Hatred

"You came to inflict terror, to take innocent lives, and to shatter a community that had done nothing but stand for kindness, unity and love."

"You slaughtered fathers, mothers, sons and daughters." 

"Now, as you begin the rest of your life locked away, remember this: your mission failed."

"You did not divide this city, you strengthened it. You did not silence its voice, you made it louder. You did not instill fear, you inspired unity."

"El Paso rose, stronger and braver."

Judge Sam Medrano, Texas District Court 

El Paso Walmart mass shooter Patrick Crusius, 21, from Allen, Texas, accused of killing 22 and injuring 25 arraigned,in El Paso, Texas, U.S. October 10, 2019. Mark Lambie/Pool via REUTERS/

The racist attack in El Paso on August 3, 2019 represents one of the deadliest mass shootings in the history of the United States, which has experienced more than its share of such events and all too frequently. The gunman, responsible for the deaths of 23 people at an El Paso Walmart years previously, on Monday pleaded guilty to capital murder.

"Are you pleading guilty because you are guilty, and for no other reason?" asked Judge Medrano. "Yes, your honour", came the quiet response.

 

The killer, now 26 years of age, agreed that he had deliberately targeted Hispanics when he opened fire in a Walmart store crowded with shoppers for the weekend in the border city' shoppers who originated in both the United States and Mexico. Local prosecutors had taken the death penalty out of contention, to enable Crusius to plead guilty in his shockingly deadly death spree. Wearing a striped jumpsuit, shackles and a protective vest in court, Crusius is to be automatically sentenced to life in prison, with no chance of parole.

 

The reason the death penalty was set aside, relates to the compassion expressed by a number of relatives of the victims. They simply wished for the case to be concluded and out of their lives forever, according to County District Attorney James Montoya. One of Crusius' lawyers explained that his client had been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, sometimes marked by hallucinations, delusions and mood swings. That he had suffered most of his life from debilitating mental illness.

 

El Paso Times

For his part, Crusius offered no explicit regret or apology for having ended the lives of 23 people and wounding 22 others. Those that died that fateful day ranged from a 15-year-old high school student, to elderly grandparents; immigrants, city bus driver, teacher, tradesmen, and Mexican nationals on a routine shopping trip over the border into the United States.  The hundred or so family members of the victims were given the opportunity to deliver victim impact statements; dozens of whom had expressed emotional statements at an earlier opportunity.

 

Crusius, never having expressed remorse, nor asked for forgiveness had been sentenced to 90 consecutive life terms at the federal level when he pleaded guilty to hate crimes and weapons charges. He was 21 years old, when he drove to El Paso from his home near Dallas, a 1,100 kilometre distance, after posting an online racist rant, warning of a Hispanic "invasion". Arriving at the Walmart he opened fire with an AK-style rifle both inside and outside the store.   

"[Crusius] became consumed by extreme ideologies found online."

"He brought violence and terror to a place of peace. He shattered lives and forever changed the landscape of El Paso..."

"We offer our deepest condolences."

"Patrick will leave prison only in a coffin on God's time."

Joe Spencer, a Crusius lawyer 

Memorial, El Paso Times