Kid to killer: Insight into life of massacre accused Brenton Tarrant

He was a blond-headed kid from the bush who aspired to become a competitive athlete. So how did Brenton Tarrant’s humble upbringing lead to the horrific mosque attacks in Christchurch? We take a look into his life before New Zealand’s darkest day.

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He was a blond-headed kid from the bush who aspired to become a competitive athlete like his father.

Mum Sharon was an English teacher from Quirindi, in the state’s northwest. Dad Rodney was an avid marathon runner from Great Marlow, north of Grafton.

An early family snap of Brenton Tarrant with his family shows him as a curly-haired toddler, with features similar to his father. It also features his sister Lauren, an environmentalist who would later go on to pursue a career with the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service.

A young Brenton Tarrant with his father Rodney.

Brenton Tarrant has been charged with murder. Picture: Facebook

But everything unravelled after Rodney and Sharon separated. Brenton later found his father dead. Rodney took his own life at 49 while suffering from excruciating mesothelioma, a cancer of the lungs caused by exposure to asbestos.

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Sources close to the investigation said Brenton and Lauren found their father’s body in devastating circumstances while he was living in the tiny town of Southgate, near Grafton.

According to an obituary, Mr Tarrant was a “dedicated family man” who died in 2010.

A long-time Grafton resident who knew Rodney described the Tarrants as “a good Catholic family”.

“It’s hard to believe his son, this kid from Grafton, could have done such a horrific thing,” he said.

The Tarrants raised Brenton and Lauren in a small weatherboard house on Morrison St, a wide, leafy avenue on the northern edge of town.

The childhood home of Brenton Tarrant in Grafton. Picture: Nathan Edwards

Neighbours recalled a happy and seemingly normal boy who attended Grafton High, known for producing footballers.

Tarrant graduated in 2008. School yearbook photos from 2005 show a chubby, curly mop-haired boy standing unsmiling in a back row with his Year 9 classmates.

A former schoolmate said Tarrant had been heavily overweight but shed kilos when he got into fitness.

He did not rate a mention in any academic awards or sporting teams in the several school yearbooks in Grafton Library.

Brenton Tarrant in his Year 9 Yearbook photo in 2005.

Tarrant was a student at Grafton High School. Picture: Danielle smith

After leaving high school, Tarrant pursued his love of fitness, studying to become a personal trainer. Former colleagues at the Big River Gym described him as passionate and dedicated with his clients, including those who trained through an Aboriginal medical service program.

One local, who wanted to be named only as Jo, said she had known Tarrant in an indirect way through the gym.

She described him as “awkward”, particularly with women, and was unaware of him having had a girlfriend.

“He was the kind of guy that came across as awkward,” she said.

Another girl, who did not want to be identified, said she worked with Tarrant at the gym. She claimed he was “a creep” who would “sleaze on to girls” with little success.

“He was not well-liked,” she said.

Brenton Tarrant was flanked by guards as he appeared in court yesterday. Picture: New Zealand Herald/Mark Mitchell

Tarrant was not on the police radar. His only brush with the law was for four traffic infringements.

He had come to the notice of mental health workers. A senior doctor from the area who spoke on the condition of anonymity said Tarrant was known among counsellors for being “intense”.

“They painted a picture of an intense guy who had issues with minorities, particularly immigrants and women,” the doctor said.

“He also had some issue with his mother — they didn’t have much of a ­relationship.”

Most who knew of Tarrant described him as a mixture of “quiet” and “unremarkable”.

Health worker John Lysaught, who lived in Grafton and worked in mental health for several years, said: “I knew that he was a personal trainer and quite an intense personality, which I think comes hand-in-hand with being a personal trainer.”

Another Grafton local who also didn’t want to be named said that Tarrant rarely socialised and was “remarkably unremarkable”.

“He didn’t mix,” she said.

Police at Tarrant’s house in Dunedin. Picture: Joe Allison/Allison Images for news.com.au

A relative said that Tarrant developed a “severe addiction” to violent video games such as World Of Warcraft and Grand Theft Auto and would urinate on the floor rather than take a break.

“He had no outside interests other than that. He used to play computer games all day and all night and they were especially violent ones,” the relative said.

After his father’s death, he headed overseas. In 2016, he visited Turkey, first in March and again in October. Last year he spent time in Pakistan and North Korea.

Several months ago, Tarrant flew to Bulgaria from Dubai before driving around in a hire car. He eventually travelled to Bucharest in Romania, where he rented a car and drove to Hungary.

But it would be Dunedin in New Zealand where Tarrant finally made his base, joining a gym and becoming a member of the Bruce Rifle Club in South Otago.

After obtaining a firearms licence last November, Tarrant began buying firearms while shooting at the club.

When police arrested Tarrant on Friday, he had five firearms, including two shotguns and two semiautomatic rifles.

* Additional reporting Wes Hosking and Amy Harris