'He deserves to die' - family of Brenton Tarrant lash out after mosque killings
They are shocked to the core
By Frances Sheen
March 17 2019
The shocked cousin of the man accused of the terror attack in New Zealand believes her once 'normal' relative deserves to die.
Donna Cox from New South Wales says it 'hurts' to be related to Brenton Tarrant, 28, after he allegedly shot and killed 50 Muslim worshippers in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Her cousin faced court the day after the massacre occurred, smirking and giving what many believe to be a white supremacist gesture known as the OK symbol, as he was charged with one count of murder.
It's thought more charges are likely to come.
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Speaking to Channel 7's Sunday Night TV show, Donna added, 'That's a twisted mind right there. You'd have to be to be able to do something like that.'
“He deserves the death penalty for what he’s done. And that hurts me to say that because he is family, but for somebody who’s taken that many lives of other people, it’s only fair that he deserves that same thing.”
“I’m hurt, I’m upset, I’m annoyed with him," she added. "I’m angry with him. He had no right to do what he’s done. He didn’t have any right to take anyone’s life.”
She said that during his childhood, Tarrant was obsessed with guns and playing violent video games.
Watching the chilling video of the attack, filmed and posted on social media by Tarrant, Donna said she couldn't watch and asked for it to be turned off.
Tarrant's father died from cancer in 2010 and Tarrant took off around the world for seven years, travelling and visiting many different countries.
It's thought that somewhere in his travels, he allegedly forged some extremist views, many of which he set out in a document sent out to MPs in New Zealand, nine minutes before the attack.
Brenton Tarrant's grandmother and uncle have also spoken out from their home in Grafton, NSW.
Marie Fitzgerald and Terry Fitzgerald, broke their silence saying they were struggling to comprehend what had happened.
'It's just so much of everything to take in that somebody in our family would do anything like this,' the 81-year-old woman told Nine News.
'The media is saying he has planned it for a long time so he is obviously not of sound mind.'
She apologised on behalf of their family to the victims of the massacre, saying: 'What he has done is just not right.'
Brenton's mum - a high school teacher - and sister have been taken away by police and are living somewhere secretly to protect them following the attack.
Another relative, who asked to stay anonymous, told Daily Mail Australia the whole of the country town of Grafton shaken to the core.
'Everyone is confused and hurt and angry. I'm heartbroken, I'm shattered,' she said.
'I hate him so much right now. If I saw him I'd punch him in the face as hard as I could. He wasn't raised to be a racist, no one made him this way.
