Brenton Tarrant, the Australian white supremacist who killed 51 Muslim worshippers in the Christchurch mosque attacks, is seeking a fresh trial nearly seven years after the mass shooting, local media report.
The 35-year-old appeared via video link at the Wellington Court of Appeal on Monday, arguing that he was irrational and mentally unfit when he entered guilty pleas to 51 counts of murder, 40 counts of attempted murder, and one charge of committing a terrorist act.
Tarrant carried out the attacks on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, during Friday prayers in March 2019, marking the country’s deadliest modern-day mass shooting.
He used military-style semi-automatic weapons and livestreamed the killings on Facebook with a head-mounted camera.
Originally, Tarrant denied all charges and was preparing to stand trial, but he changed his plea a year later. During Monday’s hearing, he claimed that harsh prison conditions severely affected his mental health, leaving him incapable of making rational decisions at the time.
“I did not have the mind frame or mental health required to be making informed decisions at that time,” Tarrant told the court.
“The choices I made were not voluntary or rational due to the conditions of my imprisonment.”
The Court of Appeal will examine whether Tarrant was mentally competent when pleading guilty, and whether the alleged inhumane prison conditions influenced his decision.
Tarrant is currently serving life imprisonment without parole, the first such sentence in New Zealand requiring him to spend the remainder of his life in prison.
The five-day appeal hearing is expected to conclude by Friday. If the court rejects his application, a later hearing may review his sentence. Should the guilty pleas be overturned, the case could return to the High Court for trial.
Families of victims attended the Wellington courtroom during Tarrant’s testimony. Rashid Omar, who lost his son Tariq in the shootings, criticized the appeal, saying:
“It’s really annoying because he’s trying to play with all of us… it’s just a waste of our time and taxpayers’ money.”
Following the attacks, New Zealand tightened its gun laws in March 2019, signaling major reforms after the nation’s worst terrorist massacre in modern history.
