TE NUPEPA O TE TAIRAWHITI FRIDAY, AUGUST 28, 2020 HOME-DELIVERED $1.90, RETAIL $2.20 LIFE SENTENCE ‘Your actions were inhuman’ CHRISTCHURCH — The white people praying at the Al Noor and system has locked up this ideology Judge Mander said Tarrant had supremacist who slaughtered 51 Linwood mosques in Christchurch forever.” shown no empathy toward his worshippers at two New Zealand shocked New Zealanders and Tarrant pleaded guilty in March victims and remained detached and mosques was yesterday sentenced prompted new laws banning the to 51 counts of murder, 40 counts of self-centred. to life in prison without the deadliest types of semi-automatic attempted murder and one count of Tarrant arrived in New Zealand in possibility of parole, the first time weapons. They also prompted global terrorism, reversing his earlier not 2017, never sought work and began the maximum available sentence has changes to social media protocols guilty pleas. planning for his attack by stockpiling been imposed in the country. after the gunman livestreamed his He fired his lawyers and told high-powered weapons and joining Judge Cameron Mander said the attack on Facebook. the judge he didn’t shooting clubs, the judge said. crimes committed by 29-year-old During the four- wish to speak at “It appears that while travelling Australian Brenton Harrison Tarrant day sentencing No sentence will his sentencing. A in Europe you developed deep- were so wicked that a lifetime in jail hearing, 90 survivors ‘bring our loved ones standby lawyer seated radical views regarding the could not begin to atone for them. and family members appointed by the migrant population of some Western They had caused enormous loss recounted the back. But at least we court told the judge countries.” and hurt and stemmed from a horror of that day can close this chapter that Tarrant did not Tarrant flew a drone over the Al warped and malignant ideology, the and the trauma and move on oppose the maximum Noor mosque and researched the judge said. they continue to sentence. layout, according to prosecutors. On “Your actions were inhuman. You feel. One of those —Aya’ Al-Umari The judge said the day of the attacks, he drove to deliberately killed a three-year-old who spoke was Tarrant recently told the mosques with six guns, including infant by shooting him in the head Temel Atacocugu, a psychiatrist that two AR-15s. as he clung to the leg of his father.” who survived being shot nine times he now rejects his extremist views “You committed mass murder,” After the sentence was announced, during the attack at the Al Noor and considers his attacks “abhorrent the judge said. “You slaughtered survivors of the shootings raised mosque. and irrational.” unarmed and defenceless people. hands and fists in celebration and Atacocugu said he felt relieved at But Judge Mander said he was You maimed, wounded and crippled greeted supporters waving signs the sentence. sceptical Tarrant had abandoned his many others. Your victims include with painted hearts and carrying “Finally we can breathe freely, ideology, especially considering the the young and the old, men, women roses outside the court building. and we feel secure, and my kids feel gunman told police after the attacks and children.” The March 2019 attacks targeting secure,” Atacocugu said. “The justice he wished he had killed more people. CONTINUED ON PAGE 3 JUSTICE SERVED: Mosque shooting survivors (from left) Mustafa Boztas, Wassail Daragmih and Temel Atacocugu celebrate as they leave the Christchurch High Court after the sentencing hearing for mass murderer Brenton Tarrant. The white supremacist will spend the rest of his life in prison. AP picture GISBORNE RUATORIA WAIROA Local News ...... 1-5 Business ............10 Television ...........18 Racing .......... 22-23 Births & Deaths ...4 Opinion ..............11 Classifieds ... 19-20 Sport ............ 24-28 9 771170 043005 TOMORROW National ....... 6-9,17 World............ 12-13 Literature ..........21 Weather .............27 > 2 NEWS The Gisborne Herald • Friday, August 28, 2020 NEARLY THERE: Bay Stonecraft staff members (from left) Robert Porter, Colin Duffy, Gareth Porter, David Porter uplift one of the last of seven headstones to return it to its gravesite at Makaraka Cemetery. Right, a 2018 file photo of Currie Construction and Gisborne District Council workers removing one of the 88 Makaraka Cemetery headstones from where they were buried in 1982. Stonecraft picture by Liam Clayton ‘A WRONG PUT RIGHT’ Headstone restoration project on home stretch by Wynsley Wrigley by David Porter, the father of one of the Bay Stonecraft staff members. MAKARAKA Cemetery is starting to fill up. The headstone is heavy. It takes some So says Friends of Makaraka Cemetery Trust manoeuvring to get it on to the trailer, which the chairwoman Dot McCulloch. four men push hundreds of metres to the grave She was referring to the last seven of 88 site from which it was removed in about 1973 by headstones buried in a trench in 1982, which are Cook County Council as they “cleaned up” the being returned to their grave sites within the next cemetery. two weeks. All 88 headstones were buried in 1982 to The other 81 headstones have been restored prevent damage or vandalism. — some having needed more work than others “The job is progressing well,” said Mr Porter. — and returned to where they belong in the past “It’s been fun, I’ve enjoyed it.” two years since they were dug up. The restoration project has been a team effort Mrs McCulloch’s knowledge of those at rest in from a working group made up of Gisborne Gisborne’s first cemetery, which dates back to District Council elected members and staff, 1860, is extensive. Friends of Makaraka Cemetery Trust, Historic She points to one grave to her left and says the Places Tairawhiti and individuals with a direct woman was the last survivor of her family as her interest and connection with the cemetery. two sons were killed in World War 1. The council has contributed staff resources and Turning to her right and pointing at a “chunky” $25,000 towards the restoration while the New headstone, she says it is the final resting place of Zealand Lotteries Commission granted $33,000. TALES FROM THE PAST: Friends of Makaraka Cemetery Trust chairwoman Dot a Norwegian man who drowned at Midway Beach Individuals and families, some travelling from McCulloch and fellow trustee Gavin Bull with Mrs McCulloch’s first book telling the while saving two children before the first war. other districts, have honoured their ancestors by tales of some of those who rest in Makaraka Cemetery. More copies of the book She wonders out loud if the descendants of the restoring their headstones and telling their life have been printed. File Picture two children know they owe their very existence stories. to the Norwegian. Mrs McCulloch has published one book about Mrs McCulloch is not related to anyone who in maintaining the cemetery. Three different stonemasons have worked those who rest in the cemetery and plans rests in the cemetery There are still 500 headstones missing. It is on restoring the 88 headstones after they were another. Her interest was raised by fellow members of believed they were made into rubble and used uplifted from the trench. Her first book sold out its entire run of 100 the Gisborne Genealogy Group who have family to fill in Houhoupiko Stream. When The Herald visited, staff from Bay copies and a second run of 30 has just been members buried there, and by other relatives Restoring the 88 retrieved headstones had Stonecraft were moving the last seven published. approaching the society in an attempt to have been a 13-year project, said Mrs McCulloch. It headstones. Historic Places Tairawhiti is another good the headstones raised. was a wrong put right. They are using a small trailer and the source for historical information about the That led to the formation of the Friends of After the last seven headstones are in place at headstones are ratcheted on in a system devised cemetery. Makaraka Cemetery Trust, who also have a role their gravesites “we’ll all have a party”. LOOKING AHEAD Get your FOCUS ON THE LAND • Bing Lincoln is made a life Gisborne Herald member of the PB dog trial centre, plus prize winners home-delivered from the centre awards. • Silver Fern Farms launch Raw sampler boxes to meet US demand for quality red meat. • Prices from today’s and Matawhero sheep sale — 800 head including 250 donated fRee for Daffodil Day. TOMORROw TOMORROw The Gisborne Herald, 64 Gladstone Road, P.O. Box 1143, Gisborne • Phone (06) 869 0600 • Fax (Editorial) (06) 869 0643 (Advertising) (06) 869 0644 Editor: Jeremy Muir • Chief Reporter: Andrew Ashton • Circulation: Cara Haines • Sports: John Gillies To nd out more call 869 0620 e-mail: [email protected] • [email protected] • [email protected] • web site: www.gisborneherald.co.nz The Gisborne Herald • Friday, August 28, 2020 NEWS 3 MANA WAHINE: Playwright/director Nancy Confronting Brunning (left) and Polly Crawford walk on the beach at Anaura Bay. Nancy Brunning attended the premiere in Gisborne of Witi’s Wahine last year. She has since passed away but, in respect gunman of her wishes, the production is to be performed at regional venues, including this year’s Tairawhiti Arts Festival. empowered Picture by Strike Photography survivors FROM PAGE 1 Dressed in a gray prison tracksuit, Tarrant showed little emotion during his four-day sentencing. He watched the speakers, occasionally giving a small nod or covering his mouth as he laughed at jokes, often made at his expense. He was noticeably thinner than when he was first FULFILLNG arrested.