The niece of one of the people killed in the Christchurch terror attack says she is pleased with the sentencing of the terrorist but the court proceedings were unbearable at times.
Wedaad Mohamedhosen spoke to The AM Show on Friday following the sentencing of Australian Brenton Harrison Tarrant to life in prison with no chance of parole.
Mohamedhosen's uncle, Mohamad Moosid Mohamedhosen, was one of Tarrant's 51 victims.
She says the scale of the shooter's cruelty is "beyond her imagination" - and hearing it in court was intensely difficult.
"Sometimes it was too much for me to bear so I had to leave the courtroom and come back but I made sure I was there for every single statement," she said.
More than 200 people detailed the effect the terrorist attack had on their lives and Mohamedhosen says as harrowing as it was, it gave her the strength to face her uncle's killer.
"I watched my brothers and sisters go in and read their statements and it gave me courage," she said.
"I was not scared at all. I went in and looked him in the eye - I wasn't scared because without his guns he's no one - he was there sitting alone in his dock."
Tarrant pled guilty to 51 counts of murder, 40 of attempted murder, and comitting a terrorist act. He declined to speak in court - a choice Mohamedhosen says was for the best.
"We already know what was on his mind - to hear him speak would have traumatised a lot of people," she said.
"The damage has been done."
