The Christchurch shooter has been sentenced.

August 27, 2020 1:33 AM

The Christchurch shooter has been sentenced "Your crimes, however, are so wicked that even if you are detained until you die, it will not exhaust the requirements of punishment and denunciation." The terrorist who killed 51 people attacking mosques in Christchurch on March 15th 2019 has been sentenced to life without parole. He will never leave prison. (Warning: graphic violence described in all these links).

The judge's sentencing remarks are moving.

When the sentence was announced, the crowd cheered.

"Your father was a garbage man and you became the trash of society… you deserve to be buried in a landfill." "Who exactly is the other here, right now? Is it us? Or is it you? I think the answer's pretty clear." Survivors and families gave victim impact statements in court, addressing the offender.

Meanwhile, wider New Zealand confronts the logic of racism in the country. The local Muslim community thought the hate would stop. But the racism was still there. New Zealand still has a race problem.

posted by i_am_joe's_spleen (31 comments total)

There is also the debate over where he should be imprisoned. Winston Peters wants him sent back to Australia so they can foot the bill. However there is no legal precedent for that.
posted by rednikki at 2:26 AM on August 27, 2020

It is not legally possible in NZ law to deport him, neither is NZ party to any binding agreement with Australia that would oblige them to accept. It is not a matter of precedent. It can't be done without legislation. Source (I know Graeme and he is a local constitional lawyer).
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 2:33 AM on August 27, 2020 [3 favorites]

Thank you for those links. I am an American living in New Zealand and one day I'll be a citizen. It's safe to say America has a race problem too, and is in a tough spot right now. But too many of my kiwi friends think racism is mostly an American problem. Which makes it easier to ignore.
posted by jragon at 3:01 AM on August 27, 2020 [7 favorites]

"Your father was a garbage man and you became the trash of society

Oof. I think we can be satisfied with justice done--and yes, even gloat a little--without this kind of gross classism.
posted by Faint of Butt at 3:59 AM on August 27, 2020 [16 favorites]

This is the first time NZ has EVER sentenced someone to life without parole, I suspect there's likely to be an appeal under the bill of rights act - the judges full finding did address this trying to head off any appeals.

The full judge's finding is here (much of it quoted in the link above) it's one of the more readable legal documents I've ever read, though it will leave you in tears.

One thing it reveals is that the terrorist renounced all his ideology, the judge saw through this saying that this had come too late and was not genuine

You can see how much we don't do life without parole, at the end the judge is required to read him a 3-strikes notice even though he'll never get out.
posted by mbo at 4:02 AM on August 27, 2020 [8 favorites]

without this kind of gross classism

I suggest reading the judge's sentence in full. It's pretty devastating.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 4:18 AM on August 27, 2020 [12 favorites]

And then perhaps the FPP about tone policing.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 4:28 AM on August 27, 2020 [11 favorites]

Oof. I think we can be satisfied with justice done--and yes, even gloat a little--without this kind of gross classism.

I think we can assume that the man who said this was quite emotional, given he was saying it to the man who murdered his father.
posted by biffa at 5:00 AM on August 27, 2020 [18 favorites]

I know there's no way (currently) to make us Aussies take him off your hands, but I'd support it. It just seems like the right thing to do.

I hope this brings a little bit of comfort to the families, and that the appeals don't get dragged out to cause them more stress.
posted by harriet vane at 5:04 AM on August 27, 2020

It's been pointed out elsewhere that my comment above is wrong, this was not the first time NZ has had life with out parole as a penalty, our colonial forebears sentenced Māori to this for 'crimes against the state' back in the 1860s.

Let's just say this is the first time it's been used since we got rid of the death penalty 60 years ago

Aussies: don't worry, if he ever somehow gets out, he'll be dumped on your doorstep faster than you could possibly imagine
posted by mbo at 5:18 AM on August 27, 2020 [4 favorites]

"Your father was a garbage man and you became the trash of society

Oof. I think we can be satisfied with justice done--and yes, even gloat a little--without this kind of gross classism.

I am usually very sensitive to (and furious about) classism, but I personally took that phrase to be employing the word "garbage" as a neat hook upon which to express utter contempt for the shooter, rather than a snobbish comment on his father's job. "Your father worked with rubbish - but you became rubbish" was my interpretation.
posted by Morfil Ffyrnig at 6:05 AM on August 27, 2020 [38 favorites]

"Your father worked with rubbish - but you became rubbish"

This was my interpretation too, though I'm not a native speaker. Also, my father always worked with his hands, therefore I'm also quite jumpy when it comes to classism. No trigger here.
posted by kmt at 6:34 AM on August 27, 2020 [4 favorites]

Australia routinely cancels the visas of non citizens who have committed a crime and been sentenced to over 1 year's jail. Over 2600 were sent back to New Zealand over the past 6 years, much to their displeasure.

I'm actually curious what would happen if New Zealand simply found him guilty, but passed no sentence and just deported him and banned him from ever returning. That's effectively how ancient societies dealt with criminals - exile - and it costs them nothing.

What legal measures would Australia be obliged to take? Could Australia put him in jail? Or would he be free to live his life? I know Australia has laws that allow them to prosecute their citizens for crimes committed overseas but I don't think it includes murder, I've never heard of it happening anyway.
posted by xdvesper at 8:08 AM on August 27, 2020

The Christchurch shooter

No trigger here.

Speaking of words and their sometimes multiple meanings, that's certainly a word choice.

The shooter's actions were certainly heinous and extreme, and thus not something many people will have a lot of experience responding well too. As with anything, all of our other social issues are going to intersect with people's personal reactions as well as official political reactions. Some people will not necessarily be able to express their hurt and anger in ideal ways that avoid any other biases, and may end up contributing to other people further feeling unsafe. Some people will find comfort and safety in focusing on the smaller, more controllable details and in wanting folks around them to take extra care in being kind and anti-oppressive on all axes as a repudiation of everything the shooter stands for and the ideologies he acted on, but then will come across as invalidating the grief or hurt of people in the first category.
posted by eviemath at 8:15 AM on August 27, 2020 [2 favorites]

Great. Now they should go after Facebook.
posted by a complicated history at 8:28 AM on August 27, 2020 [1 favorite]

Oof. I think we can be satisfied with justice done--and yes, even gloat a little--without this kind of gross classism.

Yes, that's what's important here. The potential classism of a victim of a hate crime and massacre.
posted by Stoof at 8:49 AM on August 27, 2020 [8 favorites]

I thought the PM's comment was apt: "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. He deserves ... a lifetime of complete and utter silence," she said.
posted by chavenet at 8:56 AM on August 27, 2020 [9 favorites]

This is one of the very few cases that justify the existence of prisons for me. At this point, there is no amount of restorative justice or community accountability that could help this perpetrator while keeping the communities he victimized safe.

What a horrible and awful thing all around.
posted by Ouverture at 8:57 AM on August 27, 2020 [4 favorites]

"Your father was a garbage man and you became the trash of society"

Oof. I think we can be satisfied with justice done--and yes, even gloat a little--without this kind of gross classism.

As a janitor, I'll allow it
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 9:01 AM on August 27, 2020 [27 favorites]

Although it was hard reading, I appreciated the way that the judgement focused extensively on the victims as people, and integral parts of their families, communities and of New Zealand itself. It stood in contrast to the brief characterisation of the perpetrator as essentially disowned by his family and a very unwelcome outsider to New Zealand.
posted by plonkee at 9:25 AM on August 27, 2020 [10 favorites]

Ugh, sorry about the word choice. It was totally unintentional, I didn't mean to use it in the other sense. Really sorry about that. Like I said, English is not my native language - dear mods: feel free to delete it.
posted by kmt at 10:53 AM on August 27, 2020 [2 favorites]

Some people will not necessarily be able to express their hurt and anger in ideal ways that avoid any other biases, and may end up contributing to other people further feeling unsafe. Some people will find comfort and safety in focusing on the smaller, more controllable details and in wanting folks around them to take extra care in being kind and anti-oppressive on all axes as a repudiation of everything the shooter stands for and the ideologies he acted on, but then will come across as invalidating the grief or hurt of people in the first category.

Some people were directly harmed by this, and some people weren’t. This magnanimity is pretty weird in light of that, and I don’t think the sort of de jure intersectionality that ignores all context in focusing on the details is actually very intersectional in practice.
posted by invitapriore at 12:07 PM on August 27, 2020 [3 favorites]

I'm not sure I understand, invitapriore? People directly harmed are going to have different reactions, no? And they won't necessarily all fit together well, with some people's reactions coming across hurtfully to others, and vice versa?
posted by eviemath at 1:54 PM on August 27, 2020

Thanks for this post, I was considering making one but didn't have the spoons. I really shouldn't have read the sentencing notes.

However, I do like this other quote from Ahad Nabi (speaker of the garbage quote): “My 71-year-old dad would have broken you in half if you had challenged him to a fight”.

Australia routinely cancels the visas of non citizens who have committed a crime and been sentenced to over 1 year's jail. Over 2600 were sent back to New Zealand over the past 6 years, much to their displeasure.

Sure, they're deporting people who have been convicted and jailed, after they serve their sentence. If this man hadn't been sentenced to life, no doubt we would have deported him after he was released. What Peters and others are calling for, having him serve his sentence in Australia, is different, and not possible as per the link Joe's Spleen posted.
posted by Pink Frost at 2:19 PM on August 27, 2020 [2 favorites]

NZers need to be ones deciding on this person's treatment, not Australians. Any Australian decision on things like releasing him to general population or eventual eligibility for parole would arouse a lot of interest from NZ and (depending on whether we listened to it) either harm relations between our countries or compromise our justice system.
posted by Joe in Australia at 2:29 PM on August 27, 2020 [2 favorites]

the sentencing was an excellent example of justice being not only served, but also explained to the public by a dedicated public servant.

i hope they make sure he never has direct access to media or any way to publish anything or spread propaganda from prison. it would be just in my opinion to bar him from ever sending or receiving a letter or phone call.
posted by wibari at 2:45 PM on August 27, 2020 [5 favorites]

This is the first time NZ has EVER sentenced someone to life without parole, I suspect there's likely to be an appeal under the bill of rights act - the judges full finding did address this trying to head off any appeals.

I have no trouble saying prison should be abolished for the vast, vast majority of people. But there are a tiny .0001% who are serial physical abusers, serial rapists, or mass killers who it is hard to imagine any way to address besides holding the person indefinitely against their will.
posted by latkes at 5:49 PM on August 27, 2020

I don't think he should be sent back to Australia. For one, returning to his home country would likely be a small emotional comfort to him, and there's the risk that over 30 or 40 years the terms of his imprisonment might be changed. It also seems like a way that New Zealand may wash her hands of the whole thing, I know it's not going to be forgotten but it's the New Zealand government's duty to impose punishment on behalf of the victims and it shouldn't be passed on.
posted by L.P. Hatecraft at 8:40 PM on August 27, 2020 [5 favorites]

The Victim Impact statements have been powerful - few who have seen/heard or read them haven't been moved to tears by their potency.

FYI, no derail intended, but NZ did cut a deal with the French to return two 'intelligence operatives' who blew up the Rainbow Warrior in '85, killing Fernando Pereira. The French let them go after a couple of years. You could substitute 'intelligence operative' for 'state sponsored terrorist'.
posted by phigmov at 5:53 PM on August 28, 2020

i hope they make sure he never has direct access to media or any way to publish anything or spread propaganda from prison. it would be just in my opinion to bar him from ever sending or receiving a letter or phone call.

I don't know what this is like in New Zealand, but in the US mail to and from people who are incarcerated is heavily monitored - you don't have privacy. I don't know that I can support him never sending or receiving mail, because in many ways the measure of us as a society is in how we treat our prisoners, but I'm really okay with his mail being very heavily controlled and obviously absolutely no fan mail, no opportunities for him to talk to fans or other extremists, no media interviews, maybe mom gets to send a short note on birthdays. So not technically no mail, but in real terms... almost no mail. And obviously no opportunity for him to capitalize on this.

As far as what country he's sentenced in - he committed the crime (this word feels like a massive, unreal understatement) in New Zealand, it's New Zealand's decision what to do with him. I honestly assume that he's less likely to be killed by other inmates (or guards) than he would be here in the US, but I also wouldn't be surprised if "life without parole" doesn't mean he goes from natural causes.
posted by bile and syntax at 8:45 AM on August 29, 2020

I understand his mail is managed (especially after an unfortunate incident) but he does have a right to send and receive letters.

It is hard to imagine he won't be in danger in prison. NZ prisons do have so-called "segregation", which he could request or it could be imposed. Child sex offenders etc can be segregated from other offender as a group, but offenders can be segregated on their own. His choices are likely to be constant risk of violence or social isolation.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 1:53 PM on August 29, 2020