Brenton Tarrant, a white supremacist terrorist lost his appeal on Thursday which was seeking to overturn his conviction for killing 51 Muslims at two New Zealand mosques in 2019 as revealed per the court documents.
The killer is 35-years-old and carried out New Zealand’s deadliest modern day mass shooting. For the shooting Tarrant was sentenced to life in prison in August 2020.
In February he appealed to the Court of Appeal. He said that his detention conditions during the trial were inhumane and torturous, which made him incapable of making rational decisions when he pleaded guilty.
Tarrant said “I did not have the mind frame or mental health required to be making informed decisions at that time.”
The appeal was rejected by the court the panel of three judges said that they do not accept Mr Tarrant’s evidence and argument about his mental state.
“There were inconsistencies in Mr Tarrant’s 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.”
On the hearing of the appeal the judges found that the Tarrant’s guilty pleas were voluntary and they stated that he was not pressured or coerced in any way to plead guilty.
The court said, “The 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 at the end stated that the appeal of Tarrant was completely 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.”
An online manifesto was published by him before the attacks and then he livestreamed the killings for 17 minutes.
His victims were all Muslims.
Also read: New Zealand PM contacts PM Shehbaz: Lauds Pakistan’s role in Iran-US talks
