The
New Daily, 18
March 2019:
Family members of the
Australian man charged with murdering Muslim worshippers at two mosques in New
Zealand are devastated one of their own could be involved in a massacre.
Brenton Tarrant’s
grandmother, Marie Fitzgerald, said the family was gobsmacked he’d been charged
over Friday’s shooting attacks on mosques in Christchurch.
“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 in the NSW city of Grafton on Sunday.
“The media is saying he
has planned it for a long time so he is obviously not of sound mind.”
Tarrant went to Europe
after his father died of cancer in 2010 and came back a different man, Mrs
Fitzgerald said.
“It’s only since he travelled
overseas I think, that that boy has changed completely to the boy we knew,” she
said.
His uncle Terry
Fitzgerald apologised on behalf of the family for his nephew’s alleged
murderous act.
“We are so sorry for the
families over there, for the dead and the injured,” Terry Fitzgerald said.
“What he has done is
just not right.”
Tarrant spent most of
his time on computer games during his high school days, rather than chasing
girls, his grandmother added.
The family had dinner
with Tarrant in Grafton a year ago for his sister’s birthday.
His sister and mother
have been put under police protection after Friday’s attack, which has left 50
dead and others in a critical condition on hospital.
Meanwhile,
counter-terrorism police raided two homes on the NSW mid-north coast on Monday
as part of investigations into the shootings.
Officers from the NSW
Joint Counter Terrorism Team searched a property in Sandy Beach, near Coffs
Harbour, about 8.30am on Monday, before storming a second house at Lawrence,
near Maclean.
“The primary aim of the
activity is to formally obtain material that may assist New Zealand Police in
their ongoing investigation,” the Australian Federal Police and NSW Police said
in a joint statement.
“The community can be
assured that there is no information to suggest a current or impending threat
related to this search warrants.”
Tarrant was not on any
watchlist in Australia or New Zealand, despite online profiles linked to him
containing white supremacist material.
The 28-year-old posted a
74-page document online before the attack. A 17-minute video of the shootings
was also live-streamed.
The JCTT is made up of
officers from the AFP, NSW Police, as well as ASIO and the NSW Crime
Commission.
–AAP
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