The man who killed 51 Muslim worshippers at kirks in Christchurch is considering appealing against his life judgment, saying his shamefaced plea after the 2019 attack was attained under constraint, his counsel told state radio on Monday.
White racist Brenton Tarrant, 31, was doomed to jail for life without parole last time for the murder of 51 people and tried murder of 40 others at two kirks in Christchurch on March 15, 2019 — the worst mass firing in the country’s history.
It was the first time a court in New Zealand had doomed a person to captivity for the rest of their life.
Tarrant’s counsel, Tony Ellis, told Radio New Zealand he was advised by his customer that he contended shamefaced last time because of the “ inhuman and demeaning treatment” he endured while awaiting trial.
Ellis, who only took over as Tarrant’s counsel lately, has made the claim on his customer’s behalf in a memo to the coroner’s court that has launched a disquisition into all aspects of the Christchurch attack and whether due processes were followed.
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“ He said because of how he was treated while he was awaiting trial and latterly, (that affected) his will to carry on and he decided that the simplest way out was to maintain shamefaced,” Ellis said.
“ By this, he means he was subject to inhuman or demeaning treatment whilst on remand, which averted a fair trial.”
Ellis said he’d advised his customer to appeal against his life judgment without parole, because it’s what’s called a “ judgment of no stopgap” and traduced the Bill of Rights, and he was considering it.
Asked for comment, Ellis told Reuters by dispatch that he was instructed by his customer only to speak to named domestic media outlets.
Tarrant, an Australian public, stormed two kirks in Christchurch fortified with the military-style semi-automatics, indiscriminately shooting at Muslims gathered for Friday prayers and live-streaming the killings using a head-mounted camera.
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