Christchurch mosque killer appeals conviction

WELLINGTON

In this picture taken on March 16, 2019, Brenton Tarrant (C), the man charged in relation to the Christchurch massacre, stands in the dock during his appearance at the Christchurch District Court.

A white supremacist who shot and killed 51 people at two New Zealand mosques in 2019 launched an appeal yesterday seeking to overturn his conviction.

Brenton Tarrant, an Australian former gym instructor, admitted carrying out New Zealand's deadliest modern-day mass shooting before being sentenced to life in jail in August 2020.

But the convicted killer now argues "torturous and inhumane" detention conditions during his trial made him incapable of making rational decisions when he pleaded guilty, according to a court synopsis of the case.

Tarrant is being held in a specialist unit for prisoners of extreme risk at Auckland Prison, seldom interacting with inmates or other people.

He appeared in the Court of Appeal in Wellington via video link, his head shaved and wearing black glasses and a white button-up shirt.

"I did not have the mind frame or mental health required to be making informed decisions at that time," Tarrant told the court, according to the New Zealand Herald.

If the Court of Appeal in Wellington upholds Tarrant's conviction, it will also need to consider an appeal against his sentence.

If his conviction is overturned the case will be sent to the High Court for a retrial.

His penalty of life imprisonment without parole was the stiffest in New Zealand history.