Christchurch shooting: Mosque attack gunman Brenton Tarrant jailed for life without parole

The Australian terrorist who carried out the March 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks has been sentenced to life without parole, the first time a whole life term has been handed down in New Zealand.

Brenton Tarrant pleaded guilty to 51 charges of murder, 40 counts of attempted murder and one charge of terrorism in March this year.

Handing down the sentence in the Christchurch High Court on Thursday, Justice Cameron Mander said Tarrant had shown cruelty and callous indifference in carrying out his ideologically driven crimes.

WARNING: This story contains graphic details which may disturb some readers.

He said the crimes were cowardly and cold-blooded and driven by a "warped and malignant ideology", which he said was "rooted in religious and ethnic antipathy and intolerance".

Justice Mander again read a summary of the crimes carried out on 15 March, 2019, which occurred during Friday prayers at Al-Noor mosque and the Linwood Islamic Centre.

He described how the gunman systematically and methodically shot his victims, including those who were already injured and crying out for help.

"You slaughtered unarmed and defenceless people," he said.

"You maimed wounded and crippled many others, your victims included the young and the old, men women and children.

Justice Mander said the killing of a 3-year-old was just "one instance of the pitiless cruelty" he had displayed throughout.

In a lengthy and moving part of the sentencing hearing, Justice Mander summarised many of the more than 200 victim impact statements he had received, dozens of which were read to the court over the past three days.

He said the family of the gunman's youngest victim described him "as the happiness of the household".

"No family can recover from the murder of such a small child," Justice Mander said.

Judge says gunman came to New Zealand 'to murder'

Justice Mander said Tarrant's victims had shown "extraordinary resilience," but that did not detract from the fact that they suffered traumatic, life-altering injuries and loss.

The judge said the 51 murder charges and 40 of attempted murder were the "most salient aspects" of the crime, but he said he must consider other aspects, including the "long and extensive" planning and preparation the offender undertook.

This included obtaining a firearms licence and amassing and adapting high-velocity weapons, the court heard.

The gunman also undertook a reconnaissance mission to Al-Noor mosque two months before the attacks, flying a drone over the mosque to establish entry and exit points.

"The sole purpose of this preparation was to kill as many people at each mosque as efficiently and systematically as you could," Justice Mander said.

He also said there was little doubt that the Australian had relocated to New Zealand in 2017 to target the Muslim community.

"You came to this country to murder," he said.

Details of Tarrant's psychiatric assessments were also revealed publicly for the first time during the sentencing hearing.

Justice Mander said no apparent mental disorders, clinical psychological conditions or cognitive impairment had been diagnosed.

The psychiatric reports stated that while in prison, the 29-year-old expressed remorse and claimed to have felt in a "poisoned emotional state" before the massacre.

But the judge rejected that explanation entirely, saying it was at odds with the admissions he made to police when he was arrested.

"The reliability of your changing views has been described by [psychiatric] assessors as questionable," the judge said.

Tarrant waived his right to make any sentencing submissions but instructed a standby lawyer to tell the court that he did not oppose a sentence of life without parole.

He showed no emotion as the sentence was handed down.

'No punishment will bring our loved ones back'

Gamal Fouda, the imam of the Al-Noor mosque, welcomed the sentence handed down to the man who killed 44 of his worshippers.

"No punishment will bring our loved ones back. We respect our justice system," he said outside the Christchurch High Court.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who at the time described the attack as one of New Zealand's "darkest days", said she was relieved that "that person will never see the light of day".

"The trauma of March 15 is not easily healed but today I hope is the last where we have any cause to hear or utter the name of the terrorist behind it," she said.

"His deserves to be a lifetime of complete and utter silence."

She also praised survivors as well as the relatives of victims who addressed the hearing, saying she wanted to "acknowledge the strength of our Muslim community who shared their words in court over the past few days".

"You relived the horrific events of March 15 to chronicle what happened that day and the pain it has left behind," she said.

"Nothing will take the pain away but I hope you felt the arms of New Zealand around you through this whole process, and I hope you continue to feel that through all the days that follow."

Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he spoke Ms Ardern after the sentence was handed down.

"New Zealand is family to us. Today, we send our love across 'the ditch' and I had the opportunity to pass on those wishes earlier today to New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern," he wrote on Facebook.