"I am deeply ashamed of what I have done. I must say it is a tragic day for all of you and myself. If only we can go back in time I would change it all," he said.
"What I want you to know is I am a victim of government oppression. It is because of government oppression six people died and many were injured."
The letter James Gargasoulas read out to the Supreme Court.
"I am not evil. I am not a terrorist. I am a freedom fighter who is now educated to stop oppression," he said.
Gargasoulas, 29, murdered six people, including two children, when he mowed down pedestrians in a stolen Holden Commodore while speeding along Bourke Street at lunchtime on January 20, 2017, while under effects of the drug ice.
He pleaded not guilty to murdering Yosuke Kanno, 25, Bhavita Patel, 33, Jessica Mudie, 22, Matthew Si, 33, three-month-old Zachary Matthew-Bryant and 10-year-old Thalia Hakin, but in November a jury took less than an hour to find him guilty of six counts of murder and 27 of reckless conduct endangering life, related to the other pedestrians he injured.
This week's hearing has allowed victims and their families to outline the grief and horror they have experienced for two years, and will determine whether Justice Mark Weinberg jails him for the rest of his life, or fixes a date he will be eligible for parole.
The letter written by murderer James Gargasoulas.
On Thursday Gargasoulas said government oppression was "the worst thing ever" and the cause for all terrorism and crime.
Justice Weinberg gave Gargasoulas permission to read his letter aloud after ruling the contents were largely not relevant to the pre-sentence hearing, and unlikely to cause offence. However, two people left the court when the judge ruled the letter could be read.
In his letter and during cross-examination by Ray Gibson, SC, Gargasoulas claimed he was remorseful but that he had a premonition from God that he would run down pedestrians and that he was the "Messiah".
Previously he claimed he knew a comet was about to hit Earth and that judgment day was looming.
He told Mr Gibson he was in a "bad headspace" when he knew police were pursuing him that day, but denied the "tiny puff" of ice he took in the hours beforehand had any any bearing on him.
"I had a clear mind," he said.
Defence counsel Theo Alexander said his client's deluded beliefs and paranoid schizophrenia "undeniably influenced" his actions that day, and lessened his moral culpability.
In submitting that Gargasoulas should one day get parole, Dr Alexander said prison would be more onerous for his client given his parlous mental state, which was treatment-resistant.
But under questioning, Gargasoulas suggested he shouldn't be ruled eligible for parole.
If God's law was reinstated, he said, the death penalty would be in place.
He told Dr Alexander he didn't accept his diagnosis of schizophrenia.
Dr Alexander told the court his client had not shown the same "wanton disregard" for life as other killers jailed without parole, such as Steven Hunter, who murdered Sarah Cafferkey in 2012, and Michael Cardamone, who murdered Karen Chetcuti in 2016.
It was reasonable to say Gargasoulas didn't display "the same level of reprehensibility as they did", Dr Alexander said.
Gargasoulas' father, Christos, told the court in a letter his son had been unstable, scared and paranoid in the months before the Bourke Street tragedy and couldn't be talked to.
"I am very sorry for what my son has done and apologise for his actions and all the pain he has caused. This has hurt everyone that is involved and has brought much shame on my family," he said.
Christos Gargarsoulas said many people in his home town of Coober Pedy no longer spoke to him.
The hearing continues.
Adam Cooper joined The Age in 2011 after a decade with AAP, the country's news service. Email or tweet Adam with your news tips.
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