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Mass murderer Brenton Tarrant’s bid to appeal against his convictions for the 2019 mosque shootings has been declared “utterly devoid of merit”. “The facts concerning Mr Tarrant’s offending are beyond dispute. He has not identified any arguable defence, or indeed any defence known to the law,” the Court of Appeal said today. The decision was greeted with “huge relief” by lawyers representing victims’ families, who said it would spare them the trauma of a new trial. In 2020, Tarrant pleaded guilty to 51 charges of murder, 40 charges of attempted murder and one of engaging in a terrorist act for his armed rampage against two mosques in Christchurch on March 15, 2019. He was driving to carry out another attack on a mosque in Ashburton when police officers rammed him off the road and arrested him. In 2022, Tarrant tried to appeal against his convictions and his sentence of life in prison with no prospect for parole. To support his appeal bid, he claimed that in the weeks leading up to his guilty pleas he was in a “state of mental breakdown” and that he had been driven into a state of “near insanity” by his treatment in Auckland Prison. The Court of Appeal, however, said today it rejected his claims about having an irrational state of mind induced by his prison conditions. “Mr Tarrant’s proposed appeal is utterly devoid of merit,” the decision stated. The case was heard in February by Court of Appeal president Justice Christine French and Justices Susan Thomas and David Collins. The decision effectively dealt with Tarrant’s application for leave to appeal 505 working days late and his appeal against his convictions. His appeal against sentence had been abandoned. Tarrant dismissed lawyers After the hearing, Tarrant dismissed his four lawyers and filed a notice advising the court that he wanted to abandon his case. The court refused to allow this, saying there were “wider public interest considerations” in having the matter finally determined. Procedurally, it then declined his application to appeal out of time but in doing so, assessed the merits of his appeal had it been allowed to go ahead. It examined Tarrant’s state of mind at the time he pleaded guilty, and whether his guilty pleas were voluntary. The appeal court justices said they did not accept Tarrant’s evidence about his mental state before he pleaded guilty. His evidence about this was inconsistent and at odds with the detailed observations of prison authorities, his trial counsel and most mental health professionals who had dealt with him. “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 decision said. “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 court also found that Tarrant was not coerced or pressured in any way to plead guilty. Tarrant claimed he was ‘constantly taunted’ In bringing his case to the court, Tarrant claimed that he had been constantly taunted by prison officers. He said that he was subjected to “cruel and unnecessary” isolation. Tarrant complained about guards deliberately coughing, sniffing and rattling keys, which caused him sleep deprivation, as did constant exposure to light, including torchlight checks of his cell every 15 minutes at night. Brenton Tarrant appeared before the Court of Appeal in February. Photo / Ministry of Justice He said prison staff made derogatory comments about him, particularly when he was being observed via CCTV, and he was made to endure strip searches and rub-down searches. However, the appeal justices said that Tarrant’s trial lawyers wrote to the Department of Corrections about his treatment and “Corrections responded appropriately to any issues they raised on behalf of Mr Tarrant”. ‘The law has now done its job’ Lawyers repr...
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