A victim of the New York City bombing which injured 30 people has confronted her attacker in court after he was given multiple life sentences.
Pauline Nelson, 48, from Brooklyn, was hospitalized after the car she was driving was rocked by the explosion on September 17, 2016.
She was in court to hear Afghanistan-born Ahmad Khan Rahimi, 30, receive multiple life sentences after one of his pressure cooker bombs exploded in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighbourhood.
That blast happened just hours after a small pipe bomb exploded along a Marine Corps road race in Seaside Park, New Jersey.
In this courtroom drawing, victim Pauline Nelson speaks to Ahmad Khan Rahimi during his sentencing hearing in New York
Ahmad Khan Rahimi (seen here in an Elizabeth, New Jersey, courtroom in December 2016), 30, set off small bombs in two states
Defendant Ahmad Khan Rahimi (pictured) reads a statement to the judge during his sentencing hearing
Ms Nelson, a mother-of-four who is originally from Trinidad, scolded him for not apologizing to victims and said she is still frightened whenever she hears a siren.
She looked him in the eye and said: ‘What you did, laugh to your lawyer, you show no remorse. I sit in my car and you can take away my life in one minute. God forgive you.
‘You never apologized to anyone in the courtroom. You have no remorse for what you did.’
She added that she still has problems with her lower-back following the attack in Chelsea.
Asked to speak at his sentencing, Rahimi – whose defence lawyer said he once wanted to be a police officer – said he doesn’t ‘harbor hate for anyone.’
Federal prosecutors say Rahimi, who was given two life sentences, plus another 30 years in prison, also said he had not shown remorse and has tried to radicalize fellow inmates.
Rahimi injured 30 people when one of his bombs exploded in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood on a September night in 2016
A second bomb planted nearby did not detonate. The above photo shows the aftermath of the Chelsea bombing
Rahimi, prosecutors said, gave inmates copies of terrorist propaganda and jihadist materials, including speeches and lectures by Osama bin Laden (left) and Anwar al-Awlaki (right)
Assistant U.S. Attorney Shawn Crowley immediately followed Rahimi, saying he had just ‘blamed everyone else’ after causing so much destruction through crimes ‘fueled by hate.’
‘He has shown no remorse,’ Crowley said. ‘He’s proud of what he has done.’
Rahimi, prosecutors said, gave inmates copies of terrorist propaganda and jihadist materials, including speeches and lectures by al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden and Anwar al-Awlaki, a US-born cleric who inspired attacks on America and was killed in a US airstrike in September 2011.
Rahimi also allowed some inmates to view materials on his laptop or provided electronic copies as he spread ‘The Book of Jihad,’ bomb-making instructions and various issues of a propaganda magazine.
Defense attorney Xavier Donaldson called it ironic that his client had once aspired to be a police officer and worked as a security guard after studying criminal justice at a community college.
He urged a sentence not based on what people think terrorists might inspire or the fear they may cause.