The Christchurch mosque attacker is considering appealing his whole-of-life jail term for the 2019 mass shootings, arguing his guilty pleas were made under duress, his lawyer said on Monday.
Self-proclaimed white supremacist Brenton Tarrant pleaded guilty to 51 charges of murder, 40 of attempted murder and one of terrorism in March last year. He was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, the first time a whole-life term has been handed down in New Zealand.
Tarrant did not offer a defence at the time, but his lawyer Tony Ellis said the 31-year-old Australian citizen was now questioning his decision to plead guilty. Ellis said the gunman had told him the pleas were entered under duress because he was subject to “inhuman and degrading treatment” while being held on remand.
“He decided that the simplest way out was to plead guilty,” Ellis told Radio New Zealand.
Armed with semi-automatic weapons, Tarrant attacked Friday worshippers at Christchurch’s Al Noor mosque and Linwood prayer centre in March 2019, livestreaming the killings as he went. His victims were all Muslim and included children, women and the elderly.
Ellis reportedly took over as Tarrant’s lawyer ahead of a coroner’s inquiry into the attacks and advised his client to exercise his right of appeal. He said Tarrant had given him about 15 pages of detailed descriptions of his alleged mistreatment.
“By this, he means he was subject to inhuman or degrading treatment while on remand, which prevented a fair trial,” Ellis wrote last week in a memorandum to the chief coroner, according to Stuff, a New Zealand media outlet
Source: eNCA
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