The man responsible for New Zealand’s deadliest mass shooting has lost his bid to overturn his guilty pleas, with the Court of Appeal dismissing the application as “utterly devoid of merit”.
According to a report by 1News, Brenton Tarrant, the white supremacist behind the 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks, killed 51 Muslim worshippers and injured dozens more during coordinated shootings at two mosques on March 15, 2019. He later admitted to 51 counts of murder, 40 counts of attempted murder, and one charge of committing a terrorist act.
In 2020, Tarrant received a sentence of life imprisonment without parole, the most severe punishment ever imposed in New Zealand.
Years later, he attempted to challenge those guilty pleas, arguing they were made involuntarily because of what he described as “inhumane” prison conditions while being held in solitary confinement. During a Court of Appeal hearing in Wellington earlier this year, Tarrant claimed his mental health had been “wildly fluctuating” when he entered the pleas, as reported by 1News.
His appeal lawyers, whose identities were suppressed by the court, argued that there had been a “miscarriage of justice”. Among Tarrant’s complaints were claims that he had limited access to reading material and that prison guards were playing “mental games” with him.
Had the appeal succeeded, it could have triggered a new trial over the country’s worst mass killing.
The Court of Appeal, however, firmly rejected the arguments and noted the application was filed 505 working days after the deadline, far beyond the standard 20-day limit, 1News has reported.
In a statement released alongside the judgment, the court said the panel of judges, Justices French, Thomas and Collins, found no basis for Tarrant’s claims.
“There are inconsistencies in Mr Tarrant’s own evidence about the severity of his mental state,” the release said, 1News has quoted.
“His evidence is also at complete odds with the detailed observations of prison authorities and the assessments of most mental health professionals,” as quoted by 1News.
The judges also found his allegations conflicted with testimony from his former trial lawyers, who appeared during the February hearing.
The ruling concluded that Tarrant’s guilty pleas had been made voluntarily and without coercion.
“The evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that he was not suffering any significant psychological impacts as a result of his prison conditions at the time he pleaded guilty,” the ruling said, as quoted by 1News.
The court further stated that Tarrant had failed to explain the “long delay in filing his notice of appeal” and stressed the importance of considering the impact on victims and the wider public.
“The wider interests of society, and particularly the victims of Mr Tarrant’s offending, strongly favour declining Mr Tarrant’s application to extend time to appeal his convictions,” the court said, 1News has quoted.
In a further development, the court revealed that Tarrant had attempted to withdraw both his challenge to the guilty pleas and a separate appeal against his sentence after the February hearing. He formally filed a “notice of abandonment”, indicating he no longer wished to pursue either matter, as quoted by 1News.
The judges refused to allow him to abandon the appeal concerning the guilty pleas, citing the case’s major public significance.
“Mr Tarrant’s application and conviction appeal are of significant public interest and should be finally determined,” the court said.
The court proceeded to formally dismiss the application. However, it accepted his request to withdraw the separate appeal against his sentence because it had not yet been argued, 1News has reported.
The decision brings the legal process to a close. Tarrant will remain in prison for the rest of his life with no possibility of parole.