The white supremacist responsible for killing 51 Muslim worshippers at two New Zealand mosques has applied to have his convictions overturned, arguing he was mentally unfit when he pleaded guilty.
Brenton Tarrant, now 35, appeared via video link in a Wellington court on Monday, where he gave evidence in support of his request to withdraw his guilty pleas and proceed to a full trial, Yahoo News reported.
Tarrant, an Australian citizen, carried out the attacks in Christchurch in March 2019, opening fire at two mosques during Friday prayers in the deadliest mass shooting in New Zealand’s history.
He used military-style semi-automatic firearms and broadcast the attack live on Facebook using a head-mounted camera.
After initially pleading not guilty and preparing for trial, Tarrant changed his plea in 2020, admitting guilt to 51 counts of murder, 40 counts of attempted murder, and one charge of committing a terrorist act.
Tarrant told the court that harsh prison conditions while he was in custody awaiting trial severely affected his mental health, leaving him incapable of making a rational decision when he entered his guilty pleas.
“I did not have the mind frame or mental health required to be making informed decisions at that time,” Tarrant said.
“I think the issue is, did I really know what I wanted to do or what would be a good idea? No, I didn’t actually … I was making choices, but they were not choices made voluntarily and they were not choices made rationally due to the (prison) conditions.”
Counsel acting for Tarrant have their names and identities suppressed by order of the court and could not be reached for comment.
A court document showed the Court of Appeal would check if Tarrant was incapable of making rational decisions when he entered his guilty pleas “as a result of the conditions of his imprisonment, which he says were torturous and inhumane”.
He is serving a life sentence in prison without parole — the first time a New Zealand court imposed a sentence requiring a person to spend the rest of their life in prison.
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The appeal hearing is set down for five days and is expected to finish on Friday.
If the appeal court declines to grant the application to vacate the guilty pleas, a hearing later in the year will consider the appeal on his sentence. If the charges are overturned, the case will be sent back to the High Court for Tarrant to stand trial on the charges.
Families of some victims assembled at the Wellington court to watch Tarrant give evidence, which lasted for several hours.
“It’s really annoying because he’s trying to play with all of us and this is, it’s just a waste of our time and waste of taxpayers money and he just wants to play with us,” Rashid Omar, whose son Tariq was killed in the Christchurch shooting, told state broadcaster TVNZ.
In March 2019, New Zealand said it would tighten gun laws in the wake of its worst modern-day massacre, the government said, as it emerged that the white supremacist accused of carrying out the killings at two mosques will represent himself in court.