Christchurch attacker in NZ loses appeal, court says claim “utterly devoid of merit”

White supremacist killer Brenton Tarrant lost on Thursday an appeal seeking to overturn his conviction and sentence for shooting dead 51 people at two New Zealand mosques in 2019 court documents showedThe 35yearold was admitted to carrying out New Zealands deadliest modern day mass shooting before being sentenced to life in prison in August 2020He appealed to the Court of Appeal in February saying torturous and inhumane detention conditions during his trial made him incapable of making rational decisions when he pleaded guiltyI did not have the mind frame or mental health required to be making informed decisions at that time Tarrant said at the timeThe panel of three judges said the court does not accept Mr Tarrants evidence about his mental stateThere were inconsistencies in Mr Tarrants own evidence and his evidence is at odds with the detailed observations of prison authorities and the assessments of mental health professionals at the time of him entering his pleasThe judges found Tarrants guilty pleas were voluntary and he was not coerced or pressured in any way to plead guiltyThe evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that he was not suffering any significant psychological impacts as a result of his prison conditions at the time he pleaded guilty the court saidThe court said Tarrants proposed conviction appeal is utterly devoid of meritThe facts concerning Mr Tarrants offending are beyond dispute He has not identified any arguable defence or indeed any defence known to the lawHuge reliefTarrants penalty of life imprisonment without parole was the stiffest in New Zealand historyArmed with an arsenal of semiautomatic weapons Tarrant attacked worshippers at two mosques in Christchurch on March 15 2019He published an online manifesto before the attacks and then livestreamed the killings for 17 minutesHis victims were all Muslim and included children women and the elderlyThe courts decision was complicated one week after Tarrants February hearing when he sought to abandon his appeal entirelyThe judges said the court received a notice of abandonment of appeal signed by Tarrant using a selfstyled moniker but the document was thrown out because it was not dated or witnessedTarrant filed a second notice later that week again using a pseudonym which was dated and witnessedHe said he no longer wishes to have a lawyer and the appeal should not continue as it would likely lead to a miscarriage of justiceLawyers acting for the survivors and families of victims told national broadcaster RNZ the decision had been a huge reliefThe law has now done its job they saidThe families and frankly all of us will be spared the trauma of reliving the 15th of March all over again in a trialIt is a huge relief that the difficult and often unsupported journey families are on will not now be added to by the great burden of a new trial It would have been unimaginably traumaticThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever