Christchurch gunman appeals to overturn guilty plea in NZ Court of Appeal
Australian Brenton Tarrant, who killed 51 people in the 2019 Christchurch mosque attack, has gone to New Zealand’s Court of Appeal to try to withdraw his guilty plea and challenge his life sentence. He argues prison conditions were so torturous and inhumane that he could not make rational decisions when he pleaded guilty a year after the attack, and he also seeks to appeal his sentence. The week-long hearing in Wellington will include video-linked testimony; if the court allows retracting the plea, the case could return to trial on all charges; otherwise another hearing would address the sentence appeal. Victims’ families, watching via delayed broadcast, describe reopening trauma, as the massacre—which spurred NZ gun-law reforms—continues to echo in the country.