Extremist violence not down to mental illness, says charity head

Shaun Robinson, chief executive of the New Zealand Mental Health Foundation, says the terrorist attacks on Christchurch mosques must not be blamed on mental illness.

Robinson said that following the attacks, in which 50 people were killed, the foundation had been disappointed but not surprised to read speculation that the Australian gunman was mentally ill.

“The terrorist is clearly an extremist, but it is an unfair leap to assume we can blame mental illness for his actions,” Robinson writes in an editorial published on the foundation’s website.