November 23, 2024 01:30 (IST)
Follow us:
facebook-white sharing button
twitter-white sharing button
instagram-white sharing button
youtube-white sharing button
'Third World War has begun:' Ex-Ukraine military commander-in-chief Valery Zaluzhny | UK-India Free Trade Agreement negotiations to resume in early 2024 | UK can arrest Benjamin Netanyahu if he visits country based on ICC warrant | Centre to send over 10,000 additional soldiers to violence-hit Manipur amid fresh violence | Chhattisgarh: 10 Maoists killed during encounter with security forces in Sukma
New Zealand: Christchurch attacker planned to target 'third mosque'
Christchurch Attack

New Zealand: Christchurch attacker planned to target 'third mosque'

| @indiablooms | 24 Aug 2020, 04:19 pm

Wellington: Brenton Tarrant, who killed 51 Muslim worshippers at two mosques in New Zealand's Christchurch city last year, also planned to target a third mosque, media reports said.

Brenton Tarrant also planned to burn down the mosques, wanting to 'inflict as many fatalities as possible', reports BBC.

Brenton faced the survivors of his attack as his sentencing hearing got under way in Christchurch on Monday.

Brenton Tarrant is likely to be jailed for life for his actions, the BBC reported.

Tarrant pleaded guilty in March and was convicted of 51 murders, 40 attempted murders and one charge of terrorism.

Survivors and the family members of victims will speak during the hearing, which is expected to last for four days.

The hearing will take place at the courthouse in Christchurch, the city where Tarrant carried out the attacks in March 2019.

The first session started on Monday morning,

 COVID-19 restrictions mean the main court room is relatively empty, and an additional seven overflow courts within the law complex in Christchurch are being used for survivors and relatives of those killed to follow the proceedings.

Tarrant, 29, who is from New South Wales, had previously denied the charges and was due to face trial in June, before reversing his plea.

He now faces a minimum sentence of 17 years, but Justice Cameron Mander, the High Court judge presiding over the case, has the power to sentence him to a full life term with no parole - a sentence never before imposed in New Zealand.

More than 60 people will give in-person victim impact statements at the sentencing hearing. Some have travelled from overseas and undergone a two-week coronavirus quarantine in order to take part in the proceedings.  

 

Support Our Journalism

We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism

IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.

Support objective journalism for a small contribution.
Related Images
Xi Jinping, Putin in Russia 22 Mar 2023, 02:56 pm
Related Videos