Former Christchurch Mayor Sir Bob Parker has called for justice to be carried out to the fullest extent for the alleged Christchurch mosques shooter.
"I just think this person should be locked up for a long time and there should be no easy way out for this person," he told The AM Show.
"They deserve not to have a life any more but they deserve to watch the rest of us going about our lives, realising that he's the loser.
"We are the people that care, we are the community. He will never, ever see that again," Parker said.
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However, Sir Bob also said that this sense of care in the Christchurch community is what will make the city ultimately stronger because of these events.
"One thing this city knows, sadly, is that we know how to confront these things and you confront it by reaching out to each other. Everybody reaches out to another person in their community and in this case for our Muslim community."
"People are wrapping their arms around them... it's incredible."
Despite Sir Bob's call for justice, he says anger should not be a part of that equation.
"Anger at this moment -it's completely understandable, but it's not going to solve the issue that we face as a people in our city.
"We have to move on with our lives, we have to make sure that we have a group of people that are within our community that do not feel isolated by this action which took place.
"We've got to make sure that they can come back into the community's fold and not feel that somehow now they don't belong here, which would be wrong."
Current mayor Leanne Dalziel told the AM Show she believes her city's community is very welcoming, denying racism was commonplace.
"The experience that I was hearing from women who wear the hijab yesterday was that - and I'll use an exact expression - 'Not one word has come out of any mouth towards me to make me feel unwelcome here.'
"I'm not pretending that there's nothing there but Islamophobia was not born here, it has been imported."
Dalziel says the city is finding a way to carry on but it will be done alongside thoughts for those directly affected.
"We're not getting back to normal, but everyday activities are happening today.
"So the kids are going back to school, the businesses are open but we're also very mindful of what's happened."
Newshub.
