Man whose wife was killed in Christchurch terror attack wants to meet 'brother' gunman face to face

Next week's sentencing of mosque shooter Brenton Tarrant is being labelled an unprecedented event by the police - security is being ramped up as a large number of victims and their families are expected to attend. 

But one person who won't be attending is survivor Farid Ahmed, whose wife was killed during the attacks. 

Ahmed spends his days writing a second book. The first book is in honour of his wife, Husna, killed trying to save him during the terror attack at Al Noor Mosque.

"My wife got the martyr status - she died as a hero," he told Newshub. "She's in paradise."

With sentencing scheduled to start on Monday, Ahmed is full of mixed emotions.

But instead of attending court, he's instead chosen to stay at home and pray for the mass murderer responsible for her death.

"I had chosen forgiveness right from the beginning, therefore I don't see any reason for me to go there," he said.

"I do not want to go in front of him as a victim to give him the gratification because he wanted to make me suffer so that he would feel happy."

Ahmed still believes Tarrant is the victim - not him.

"He is a greater victim because all his planning was wrong, he lost in every count - he wanted to break the country, he lost; he wanted to eliminate the Muslim, he lost; he wanted to spread the hate, he lost."

Sixty-six people have written victim impact statements to be read to the court - but not Ahmed. Instead of facing the gunman in court, he wants to meet at another time and another place, to sit down and talk to him.

"He has done horrible things. I would never support it, but I can also not ignore the fact he is a human brother," he said.

"As a human brother I have [a] love for him and I pray to God all the time that he gets guidance."

Farid Ahmed is focused on his healing, and everyone else's as well - including the gunman.