Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern felt "relief" when she heard the Christchurch mosque terrorist Brenton Tarrant "will never see the light of day" after he was sentenced to life without parole.
Tarrant, 29, was sentenced on Thursday after pleading guilty earlier this year to murdering 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch on March 15, 2019.
The Australian citizen also pleaded guilty to 40 counts of attempted murder and one charge of terrorism, and he is the first person in New Zealand history to be convicted of that crime and to be sentenced to life without parole.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who following the attacks last year vowed never to speak the shooter's name, responded to Justice Cameron Mander's sentencing by praising the Muslim community adversely affected by the crime.
"I want to start by acknowledging the strength of our Muslim community who shared their words in court over the past few days," Ardern said, in response to the 91 survivors and relatives of the victims who spoke at the Christchurch High Court.
"You relived the horrific events of March 15 to chronicle what happened that day and the pain it has left behind. 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," Ardern said.
"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. His deserves a lifetime of complete and utter silence."
The Prime Minister said she was pleased to learn Tarrant had been sentenced to life.
"Yes, I was."
She said she felt "relief" after hearing his sentence.
"This has been a crime in New Zealand the likes of which has never occurred before and now we've seen a sentence the likes of which we've never seen before as well. But yes, it gave me relief to know that person will never see the light of day."
Ardern said now is not the time to discuss if Tarrant should be transferred back to Australia to serve his sentence since he is an Australian national.
"I do feel like today probably isn't the day for too much discussion around that. I feel like today deserves to be the day for those families to hear that sentence be handed down and just to have a bit of time with that," she said.
"The one thing I should say, though, is that there isn't currently a legal basis for it so it would be a very complex undertaking. I think the thing though, more than even just the legal basis for it that I would be most interested in, is the views of the families.
"I think they've rightly prioritised this process - the sentencing - and so that's not a question I've asked them yet, but their view will be a big driver for me as to whether or not that's something we consider."
The Prime Minister said the March 15 shootings are still "raw" for New Zealand but "not least" the Muslim community.
She said her expectation of Corrections is that they keep Tarrant in prison for life and make sure he "has no notoriety, that he has no platform, and that we have no cause to think about him, to see him or to hear from him again".
She reflected on the words of the victims and families in court who said the offender achieved the opposite of what he intended because they have come out as a community stronger and supported by New Zealand.
"I think they've done the job of sharing directly exactly what happened as a consequence of this terrorist attack."
In court, the extent of Tarrant's planning for the attack was revealed by a prosecutor, how he meticulously planned his shooting rampage to maximise casualties by flying a drone over the mosques he planned to attack.
Tarrant went to Christchurch about two months before the attack and flew a drone directly over the Al Noor mosque, with a focus on its entry and exit points.
The Prime Minister said she was aware.
"There were details that I was privy to, yes," she said.
"I think there comes probably a point where there's very few additional things that could make an act seem any more despicable than it already was. What we've seen are extra layers and details around an already horrific, despicable act.
"There is a certain degree, of course, that the more you learn the more you realise just how much thought went into causing this devastation."
