{"id":125084,"date":"2026-04-30T19:33:40","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T14:33:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?p=125084"},"modified":"2026-04-30T19:33:40","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T14:33:40","slug":"new-zealands-christchurch-mosque-killer-loses-bid-to-overturn-convictions-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125084\/","title":{"rendered":"New Zealand\u2019s Christchurch mosque killer loses bid to overturn convictions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Web Desk(National Times)- White supremacist killer Brenton Tarrant lost on Thursday an appeal seeking to overturn his conviction and sentence for\u00a0shooting dead 51 people<\/a>\u00a0at two New Zealand mosques in 2019, court documents showed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 35-year-old admitted to carrying out New Zealand\u2019s deadliest modern day mass shooting before being sentenced to life<\/a> in prison in August 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He appealed to the Court of Appeal in February, saying \u201ctorturous and inhumane\u201d detention conditions during his trial made him incapable of making rational decisions when he pleaded guilty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI did not have the mind frame or mental health required to be making informed decisions at that time,\u201d Tarrant said at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The panel of three judges said the court \u201cdoes not accept Mr Tarrant\u2019s evidence about his mental state.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere were inconsistencies in Mr Tarrant\u2019s 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 pleas.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The judges found Tarrant\u2019s guilty pleas were voluntary and \u201che was not coerced or pressured in any way to plead guilty\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe 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,\u201d the court said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The court said Tarrant\u2019s \u201cproposed conviction appeal is utterly devoid of merit\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe facts concerning Mr Tarrant\u2019s offending are beyond dispute. He has not identified any arguable defence, or indeed any defence known to the law.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>\u2018Huge relief\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Tarrant\u2019s penalty of life imprisonment without parole was the stiffest in New Zealand history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Armed with an arsenal of semi-automatic weapons, Tarrant attacked worshippers at two mosques in Christchurch on March 15, 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He published an online manifesto before the attacks and then livestreamed the killings for 17 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His victims were all Muslim and included children, women and the elderly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The court\u2019s decision was complicated one week after Tarrant\u2019s February hearing when he sought to abandon his appeal entirely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The judges said the court received a notice of abandonment of appeal signed by Tarrant using a \u201cself-styled moniker\u201d but the document was thrown out because it was not dated or witnessed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tarrant filed a second notice later that week, again using a pseudonym, which was dated and witnessed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said he \u201cno longer wishes to have a lawyer\u201d and the appeal should not continue as \u201cit would likely lead to a miscarriage of justice\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lawyers acting for the survivors and families of victims told national broadcaster RNZ the decision had been a \u201chuge relief\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe law has now done its job,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe families, and frankly all of us, will be spared the trauma of reliving the 15th of March all over again in a trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt 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 traumatic. \u201c<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Web Desk(National Times)- White supremacist killer Brenton Tarrant lost on Thursday an appeal seeking to overturn his conviction and sentence for\u00a0shooting dead 51 people\u00a0at two New Zealand mosques in 2019, court documents showed. The 35-year-old admitted to carrying out New Zealand\u2019s deadliest modern day mass shooting before being sentenced to life in prison in August 2020. He […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":125085,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","entry"],"yoast_head":"\nNew Zealand\u2019s Christchurch mosque killer loses bid to overturn convictions - Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125084\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Zealand\u2019s Christchurch mosque killer loses bid to overturn convictions - Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Web Desk(National Times)- White supremacist killer Brenton Tarrant lost on Thursday an appeal seeking to overturn his conviction and sentence for\u00a0shooting dead 51 people\u00a0at two New Zealand mosques in 2019, court documents showed. The 35-year-old admitted to carrying out New Zealand\u2019s deadliest modern day mass shooting before being sentenced to life in prison in August 2020. 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