A white supremacist who murdered 51 Muslims at two Christchurch mosques in 2019 has failed in his attempt to withdraw his guilty pleas. A three-judge panel at New Zealand's Court of Appeal dismissed Brenton Tarrant's claim that harsh prison conditions forced him to involuntarily admit to terrorism, murder, and attempted murder charges.
Tarrant, an Australian now aged 35, carried out the attack in March 2019, driving to two mosques during Friday prayers and opening fire with semiautomatic weapons. His guilty pleas in March 2020 brought relief to families and survivors who feared a lengthy trial that could have been used to broadcast his hateful ideology.
The court noted that Tarrant's appeal was filed 505 days after the legal deadline. During a five-day hearing in February, the attacker argued his admissions were prompted by 'irrationality' due to poor mental health, causing him to temporarily abandon his racist views. However, the judges concluded his claims of mental illness were inconsistent and unsupported by prison staff, mental health professionals, or his former lawyers.
'He was not suffering from a mental impairment or any other form of mental incapacity which rendered him unable to voluntarily change his pleas to guilty,' the judges wrote. 'He endeavoured to mislead us about his state of mind in a weak attempt to advance an appeal in circumstances where all other evidence demonstrated that he made an informed and totally rational decision to plead guilty.'
The ruling also revealed that Tarrant sought to abandon his appeal shortly after the hearing, but the judges rejected this, stating the case was 'of significant public interest and should be finally determined.' They suggested Tarrant 'began to form the opinion that the hearing was not proceeding in his favour.'
Tarrant remains in Auckland Prison, serving a life sentence without parole, imposed in August 2020. The judges allowed him to abandon a separate appeal against his sentence, which was scheduled for 2026. The Australian-born man moved to New Zealand in 2017 with a plan to commit a mass shooting, amassing weapons and conducting reconnaissance before the attack.
The appeal court noted that Tarrant had accepted the police summary of facts and that the case against him was 'overwhelming,' including footage he filmed and live-streamed, and a document outlining his racist views published online under his real name.
