A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
| Christchurch mosque shootings | |
|---|---|
 The Al Noor Mosque in August 2019 | |
  Al Noor Mosque Linwood Islamic Centre .svg)  Christchurch | |
| Location | Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand |
| Coordinates | |
| Date | 15 March 2019 1:40 – 1:59 p.m. (NZDT; UTC+13) |
| Target | Muslim worshippers |
Attack type | Mass shooting,[1] terrorist attack,[2] shooting spree, mass murder, right-wing terrorism, hate crime |
| Weapons |
|
| Deaths | 51[a] |
| Injured | 40 |
| Perpetrator | Brenton Harrison Tarrant |
| Motive | |
| Verdict | Pleaded guilty to all charges |
| Convictions | 51 counts of murder 40 counts of attempted murder One count of committing a terrorist act |
| Sentence | 52 consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole, plus 480 years[9] |
The Christchurch mosque shootings were two consecutive mass shootings on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand on 15 March 2019. They were committed by Brenton Tarrant who entered both mosques during Friday prayer, firstly at the Al Noor Mosque at 1:40 p.m. and later at the Linwood Islamic Centre at 1:52 p.m.
Tarrant was arrested after his vehicle was rammed by a police unit as he was driving to a third mosque in Ashburton. He live-streamed the first shooting on Facebook, marking the first successfully live-streamed far-right terror attack, and had published an online manifesto before the attack. On 26 March 2020, he pled guilty[10][11] to 51 murders, 40 attempted murders, and engaging in a terrorist act,[12][13] and in August was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole – the first such sentence in New Zealand.[9][14][15]
The attacks were mainly motivated by white nationalism, anti-immigrant sentiment, and white supremacist beliefs. Tarrant, who described himself as an ecofascist and voiced support for the far-right "Great Replacement" conspiracy theory in the context of a "white genocide", cited Anders Behring Breivik and Dylann Roof as well as several other right-wing terrorists as inspirations within his manifesto, praising Breivik above all.[16]
The attack was linked to an increase in white supremacy and alt-right extremism globally[17][18][19] observed since about 2015.[20][21] Politicians and world leaders condemned it,[22] and then-Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern described it as "one of New Zealand's darkest days".[23] The government established a royal commission into its security agencies in the wake of the shootings, which were the deadliest in modern New Zealand history and the worst ever committed by an Australian national.[24][25][26] The commission submitted its report to the government on 26 November 2020,[27] the details of which were made public on 7 December.[28]
The shooting has inspired copycat attacks,[b] especially due to its live-streamed nature. In response to this incident, the United Nations designated March 15 as the International Day to Combat Islamophobia.
Background
Locations
The gunman first attacked the Al Noor Mosque, the first mosque in the South Island, opened in June 1985.[32][33] It is located on Deans Avenue in the suburb of Riccarton.
The Linwood Islamic Centre was attacked shortly after the Al Noor Mosque. It opened in early 2018.[34] It is located on Linwood Avenue in the suburb of Linwood.
Perpetrator
Brenton Harrison Tarrant (born 27 October 1990),[35][36] a white Australian man, was 28 years old at the time of the shootings.[37][38] He grew up in Grafton, New South Wales, where he attended Grafton High School.[37][39]
Tarrant's parents separated when he was young: this, along with other events including the loss of his family home in a fire and the death of his grandfather, led him to be traumatised and to start suffering from social anxiety. Following the separation of his parents, Tarrant and his sister Lauren, lived with their mother with her new partner. The relationship became violent, with the partner assaulting his mother, him and his sister. The two children began to live with their father Rodney Tarrant. He began to gain weight from age 12 to 15 which led to bullying at school, where he also had very few friends. He was disengaged at school, while also being unusually knowledgeable in certain topics such as the Second World War. Tarrant began exhibiting signs of racism from a young age, expressing concerns about immigration as early as 12 years old. He frequently made derogatory comments concerning his mother's former partner's Aboriginal heritage, which resulted in intervention by one of his high school teachers. This teacher, also serving as the Anti-Racism Contact Officer, intervened on two occasions, addressing instances of both anti-Aboriginal and anti-Semitic behavior.[40] He started using 4chan when he was 14. He once told his sister that he thought he was autistic and possibly sociopathic. Around 2007 when Tarrant was either 16 or 17, the father was diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma. Tarrant began to exercise at gyms to cope and lost 52 kilograms. He joined the Big River Gym in Grafton at the end of his final year at Grafton High School and qualified as a personal trainer in mid-2009. In 2010 Tarrant discovered his father dead by suicide after having previously agreed with his father that he would do so. He inherited A$457,000 from his father, which largely came from the settlement of a claim for damages arising out of the exposure to asbestos, which had caused his father's mesothelioma. He stopped working at the Big River Gym in 2012 after suffering an injury and decided to use his inherited money to invest and travel.[41][42]
From 2012 onward, he visited several countries. He always travelled alone, except for a trip to North Korea. In March 2013, he travelled to New Zealand for a holiday, where he stayed with a gaming friend for three days. The gaming friend and his parents were avid firearm users. They took Tarrant to a shooting club where he had his first experience with firearms.[43] Police in Bulgaria and Turkey investigated Tarrant's visits to their countries.[28][44][45][46] Security officials suspected that he had come into contact with far-right organisations about two years before the shooting, while visiting European nations.[47] He donated €1,500 to Identitäre Bewegung Österreich (IBÖ), the Austrian branch of Generation Identity (part of the Identitarian movement) in Europe, as well as €2,200 to Génération Identitaire, the French branch of the group, and interacted with IBÖ leader Martin Sellner via email between January 2018 and July 2018, offering to meet in Vienna and a linking to his YouTube channel.[48] During the planning stages of his attack he made a donation of $106.68 to Rebel Media, a site that featured both Sellner and several articles espousing "white genocide" and "Great Replacement" conspiracy theories.[49]
Tarrant arrived in New Zealand in August 2017 and lived in Andersons Bay in Dunedin until the shootings.[50][28][51] A neighbour described him as a friendly loner.[52] He was a member of a South Otago gun club, where he practised shooting at its range.[53][54] In 2018, Tarrant was treated for eye and thigh injuries at Dunedin Hospital; he told doctors he had sustained the injuries while trying to dislodge an improperly chambered bullet from a gun. The doctors also treated him for steroid abuse, but never reported Tarrant's visit to the authorities,[28] which would have resulted in police reassessing his fitness to hold a gun licence.[55]
Throughout his residence in Dunedin, Tarrant was unemployed, funding his living expenses and preparations for the terrorist attack using the money he received from his father and income from investments, including a rental property he and his sister had purchased in January 2017. When asked, he gave no concrete indication of his future plans once his funds were depleted, beyond mentioning to his sister the possibility of suicide and later telling family members and gaming friends that he intended to move to Ukraine.[56] Tarrant believed he would exhaust his funds by approximately August 2019. A document, dated late January 2019, was discovered in which he wrote, "15th March is go do rain or shine [sic]".[57]
Captivated with sites of battles between Christian European nations and the Ottoman Empire, Tarrant went on another series of visits to the Balkans from 2016 to 2018, with Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Turkey, and Bosnia-Herzegovina confirming his presence there in these years.[58][59] He posted Balkan nationalist material on social media platforms[60] and called for the United States to be weakened to prevent what he perceived as NATO intervention in support of Muslims (Albanians) against Christians (Serbs).[61][59][62] He said he was against intervention by NATO because he saw the Serbian military as "Christian Europeans attempting to remove these Islamic occupiers from Europe".[61][62] By June 2016, relatives noted a change in Tarrant's personality, which he claimed was the result of a mugging incident in Ethiopia, and his mother had expressed concern for his mental health.[28]
Tarrant himself identified three key moments that shaped his ideology. The first was the murder of an 11-year-old girl, Ebba Åkerlund, in the 2017 Stockholm truck attack on 7 April 2017. (Her name was among the graffiti scrawled on the gun he used to commit the shooting). He also identified the defeat of Marine Le Pen in the 2017 French presidential election as evidence that the possibility of democratic resolution had "vanished". The third key event was his trip to France where he had a strong emotional response to his perception that the French had become a "minority" in their own country, which he described as "fuming rage" and "suffocating despair". He was moved by visiting a military cemetery: "my despair turned to shame, my shame to guilt, my guilt to anger and my anger to rage".[63]
In 2016, three years prior to the attacks, Tarrant praised Blair Cottrell as a leader of the far-right movements in Australia and made more than 30 comments on the now-deleted "United Patriots Front" and "True Blue Crew" webpages. An Australian Broadcasting Corporation team who studied the comments called them "fragments and digital impressions of a well-travelled young man who frequented hate-filled anonymous messaging boards and was deeply engaged in a global alt-right culture."[64] A Melbourne man said that in 2016, he filed a police complaint after Tarrant allegedly told him in an online conversation, "I hope one day you meet the rope". He said that the police told him to block Tarrant and did not take a statement from him. The police said that they were unable to locate a complaint.[65]
After his arrest, Tarrant told investigators that he frequented right-wing discussion boards on 4chan and 8chan and also found YouTube to be "a significant source of information and inspiration."[28]
Preparation
Tarrant is thought to have become obsessed with terrorist attacks committed by Islamic extremists in 2016 and 2017, started planning an attack about two years prior to the shootings, and chosen his targets three months in advance.[66] Some survivors at the Al Noor Mosque believed they had seen Tarrant there on several Fridays before the attack, pretending to pray and asking about the mosque's schedules.[67] The Royal Commission report found no evidence of this,[68] and police instead believe that Tarrant had viewed an online tour of Al-Noor as part of his planning.[69]
On 8 January 2019, Tarrant used a drone operated from a nearby park to investigate the mosque's grounds.[70] Additionally, he used the Internet to find detailed mosque plans, interior pictures, and prayer schedules to figure out when mosques would be at their busiest levels.[71] On the same day, he had driven past the Linwood Islamic Centre.[70]
Weaponry
Police recovered six guns: two AR-15 style rifles (one manufactured by Windham Weaponry and the other by Ruger), two 12-gauge shotguns (a semiautomatic Mossberg 930 and a pump-action Ranger 870), and two other rifles (a .357 Magnum Uberti lever-action rifle, and a .223-caliber Mossberg Predator bolt-action rifle). Tarrant was granted a firearms licence with an "A" endorsement in November 2017,[72][73] and purchased weapons between December 2017 and March 2019, along with more than 7,000 rounds of ammunition.[71] According to a city gun store, Tarrant bought four firearms and ammunition online.[74] The shop did not detect anything unusual or extraordinary about the customer.[75] He used four 30-round magazines, five 40-round magazines, and one 60-round magazine in the shootings.[76] Additionally, he illegally replaced the semi-automatic rifles' small magazines with the higher capacity magazines purchased online, against the conditions of Tarrant's gun license.[77][78][79] He also modified the triggers of some of the firearms to allow for lighter trigger pressure and faster trigger resets.[71][80] He spent an estimated NZ$30,000 on firearm-related items.[81]
The guns and magazines used were covered in white writing naming historical events, people, and motifs related to historical conflicts, wars, and battles between Muslims and European Christians;[61][62][82][83] as well as the names of recent Islamic terrorist attack victims and the names of far-right attackers such as Alexandre Bissonnette, Luca Traini and Darren Osbourne.[84][85] The markings also included references to "Turkofagos" (Greek: Τουρκοφάγος, lit. 'Turk-eater';[86] this was the nickname of the revolutionary Nikitas Stamatelopoulos during his battles in the Greek War of Independence[87]), and white supremacist slogans such as the anti-Muslim phrase "Remove Kebab" that originated from Serbia and the Fourteen Words.[61][82][83] The Archangel Michael's Cross of the Romanian fascist organisation Iron Guard was among the symbols on the firearm.[88] Apart from the Latin alphabet, writings on the weaponry were in the Cyrillic, Armenian and Georgian alphabets.[82] The writings were names dedicated to historic individuals that fought against Muslim forces. On his armoured vest was a Black Sun patch, a symbol commonly used by the Azov Regiment,[89] and two dog tags: one with a Celtic cross, and one with a Slavic swastika design; all of these symbols are popular in far-right counter-culture.[90]
His armoured vest had at least seven loaded .223 magazines in the front pockets.[91] He also wore an airsoft helmet, which held the head-mounted GoPro he used for his live stream.[71][92]
According to Stuff, Tarrant was wrongly granted a firearms licence due to police failures. Sources said that police failed to interview a family member as required for obtaining a firearms licence, instead interviewing two men that Tarrant had met through an online chatroom. In the days after the attacks, the police had quashed concerns that Tarrant had obtained the weapons inappropriately.[93]
Police also found four incendiary devices in Tarrant's car; they were defused by the New Zealand Defence Force.[94][95] He said, on the livestream, that he had planned to set the mosque on fire.[96]
Manifesto
Tarrant claims to be the author of a 74-page manifesto titled The Great Replacement, a reference to the "Great Replacement" and "white genocide" conspiracy theories.[8][97] It said that the attacks were planned two years prior, and the location was selected three months prior.[98] Minutes before the attacks began, the manifesto was emailed to more than 30 recipients, including the prime minister's office and several media outlets,[99] and links were shared on Twitter and 8chan.[100][101] Seven minutes after Tarrant sent the email containing the manifesto to parliament, it was forwarded to the parliament security team, who instantly called the police communication centre at 1:40 p.m., around the same time the first 111 calls were made from the Al Noor Mosque.[102]
In the manifesto, several anti-immigrant sentiments are expressed, including hate speech against migrants, white supremacist rhetoric, and calls for all non-European immigrants in Europe whom he claimed to be "invading his land" to be removed.[103] The manifesto displays neo-Nazi symbols such as the Black Sun and the Odin's cross. The author denies being a Nazi,[104] describing himself instead as an "ethno-nationalist",[62][105][106] an "eco-fascist",[107] and a "kebab removalist", in reference to a meme exalting the genocide of Bosnian Muslims that occurred during the Bosnian War.[108]
The author praises Donald Trump as a "a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose"[109] and cites Norwegian terrorist Anders Behring Breivik, Dylann Roof and others as an inspiration.[110][111][112] The author said that he agrees with British Union of Fascists leader Oswald Mosley and that the People's Republic of China was the nation closest to his ideology.[113][114] He has also been said to have drawn from the counter-jihad movement.[115][116][117]
Despite claiming to launch this attack in the name of diversity, he called for the expulsion of people he deemed to be "invaders" from Europe including but not limited to Roma, Africans, Indians, Turks and Semitic peoples. The author says he originally targeted the Al Huda Mosque in Dunedin but changed his mind after visiting Christchurch, because the mosques there contained "more adults and a prior history of extremism".[118][119] In 2014 and 2015, the local press had reported an allegation that a congregation member had been radicalised at the mosque.[120] Additionally, the shooter also called for the killing of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
The manifesto was described by some media outlets as "shitposting"—trolling designed to engender conflict between certain groups and people.[121] Readers of the manifesto described it as containing deliberately provocative and absurd statements, such as sarcastically claiming to have been turned into a killer by playing violent video games.[122] On 23 March 2019, the manifesto was deemed "objectionable" by the Chief Censor of New Zealand, making it unlawful to possess or distribute it in New Zealand.[123] Exemptions to the ban were available for journalists, researchers, and academics.[124] In August 2019, The New Zealand Herald reported that printed copies of the manifesto were being sold online outside New Zealand, something New Zealand law could not prevent.[125]
Genocide scholar A. Dirk Moses analysed the manifesto, concluding that "Tarrant's words yield insights into the subjectivity of genocidaires more generally, namely that they commit terrorist acts with genocidal intent as – in their own mind – preventative self-defence; not as acts of aggression but, as he writes, 'a partisan action against an occupying force'". According to Moses, it was hypocritical for Tarrant to complain about supposed "white genocide" from immigration without recognising that he himself comes from a settler colony that resulted from genocide against Indigenous Australians.[126]
In the manifesto, Tarrant said he hoped mass shootings would cause conflict over gun control in the United States, and potentially lead to civil war.[127][128]
An arm of the Ukrainian Azov movement subsequently disseminated the manifesto both online and in print.[89]
Events
Al Noor Mosque
At 1:32 p.m., Tarrant started his live-stream that would last for 17 minutes on Facebook Live, starting with the drive to the Al Noor mosque and ending as he drove away.[71][129] Just before the shooting, he played several songs, including "Serbia Strong", a Serb nationalist and anti-Muslim song; and "The British Grenadiers", a traditional British military marching song.[130][61][131]
At 1:39 p.m., Tarrant parked his vehicle in the driveway next to the Al Noor Mosque. He then armed himself with the Mossberg 930 and Windham Weaponry AR-15 rifle before walking towards the mosque.[71][102][70]
At 1:40 p.m., Tarrant approached the mosque, a worshipper greeted him with "Hello, brother". Tarrant fired his shotgun nine times towards the front entrance, killing four worshippers. He then dropped the shotgun and opened fire on people inside with the AR-15–style rifle, killing two other men down a hallway near the entrance and dozens more inside a prayer hall; a strobe light attached to one of his weapons disoriented victims.[71][132][133] Another worshipper charged at Tarrant and knocked him down, dislodging a magazine from his vest in the process, but he was then shot several times and fatally wounded.[132][134][135] This worshipper, Naeem Rashid, was posthumously awarded the Nishan-e-Shujaat and the New Zealand Cross, the highest awards of bravery in Pakistan and New Zealand, respectively.[136][137]
Tarrant fired at worshippers in the prayer hall from close range. He then went outside, where he killed a man, discarded his Windham WW-15 and retrieved a Ruger AR-556 AR-15 from his car. He went to the mosque's southern gate and killed two people in the car park sheltering behind vehicles and wounded another. He reentered the mosque and shot already-wounded people, then again went outside, where he killed a woman.[138][102][71][132] Thereupon Tarrant drove over the deceased woman, leaving six minutes after he arrived at the mosque.[132][70] He shot at fleeing worshipers and cars through the windscreen and closed window of his own car as he was driving towards the Linwood Islamic Centre.[102][71][70]
At 1:46 p.m., police arrived near the mosque just as Tarrant was leaving, but his car was hidden by a bus, and at the time, no description of the vehicle had been provided, or that he had left.[102][139] He drove eastwards on Bealey Avenue at up to 130 km/h (81 mph), weaving between lanes against oncoming traffic and driving onto a grass median strip.[102] At 1:51 p.m., just after the livestream had ended due to a connection interruption, he aimed a shotgun at the driver of a vehicle on Avonside Drive and attempted to fire it twice, but it failed to fire on both occasions. The GoPro device attached to Tarrant's helmet continued recording until he was apprehended by police eight minutes later.[70][102]
Linwood Islamic Centre
At 1:52 p.m., Tarrant arrived at the Linwood Islamic Centre,[70] 5 kilometres (3 mi) east of the Al Noor Mosque,[140] where about 100 people were inside.[71][70] He parked his vehicle on the mosque's driveway, preventing other cars from entering or leaving.[71] According to a witness, Tarrant was initially unable to find the mosque's main door, instead shooting people outside and through a window, killing four and alerting those inside.[71][70][141]
A worshipper named Abdul Aziz Wahabzada ran outside. As Tarrant was retrieving another gun from his car, Aziz threw a payment terminal at him. Tarrant fired back at Aziz, who picked up an empty shotgun that Tarrant had dropped. He took cover among nearby cars and attempted to draw Tarrant's attention by shouting, "I'm here!" Regardless, Tarrant entered the mosque, where he shot and killed three people. When Tarrant returned to his car, Aziz confronted him again. Tarrant removed a bayonet from his vest but then retreated into his car instead of attacking Aziz. Tarrant drove away at 1:55 p.m., with Aziz throwing the shotgun at his car.[132][142] Aziz was awarded the New Zealand Cross, New Zealand's highest award for bravery.[136] In May 2023, he represented recipients of the Cross at the coronation of Charles III and Camilla.[143] After a long period of being left vacant, the building was demolished in November 2023.[144][145]
Tarrant's arrest
A silver 2005 Subaru Outback[146] matching the description of Tarrant's vehicle was seen by a police unit, and a pursuit was initiated at 1:57 p.m. Two police officers rammed his car off the road with their vehicle, and Tarrant was arrested without resistance on Brougham Street in Sydenham at 1:59 p.m., 18 minutes after the first emergency call.[132][70][147]
| Police response timeline[102] | |
|---|---|
| Time | Event |
| 1:40 p.m. | Tarrant enters the Al Noor Mosque. |
| 1:41 p.m. | First 111 call to Police is received. |
| 1:42 p.m. | Police report over the radio of shots fired at Al Noor Mosque. |
| 1:46:00 p.m. | Tarrant leaves Al Noor Mosque for Linwood Islamic centre. |
| 1:46:58 p.m. | Police arrive at the intersection of Deans Avenue and Riccarton Road. |
| 1:51 p.m. | Police arrive outside Al Noor Mosque. |
| 1:52 p.m. | Tarrant arrives at Linwood Islamic centre. |
| 1:54:48 p.m. | Police enter Al Noor Mosque. |
| 1:55 p.m. | Tarrant leaves Linwood Islamic centre. |
| 1:56:25 p.m. | Police car flagged down by a member of the public reporting shots fired at Linwood Islamic centre. |
| 1:57 p.m. | First 111 call to Police from the Linwood Islamic centre. |
| 1:57:49 p.m. | Police pursuit is initiated with Tarrant. |
| 1:59 p.m. | Pursuit ends with Tarrant being apprehended. |
| 1:59:25 p.m. | Police arrive at Linwood Islamic centre. |
Tarrant later admitted that when he was arrested, he was on his way to attack a mosque in Ashburton, 90 km (56 mi) southwest of Christchurch.[70] He also told the police that there were "nine more shooters", and that there were "like-minded" people in Dunedin, Invercargill, and Ashburton, but when interviewed later, he confirmed that he had acted alone.[148]
Legal proceedings
Arraignment
Tarrant appeared in the Christchurch District Court on 16 March, where he was charged with one count of murder.[149] The judge ordered the courtroom closed to the public except for accredited media and allowed the accused to be filmed and photographed on the condition that Tarrant's face be pixellated.[150] In court, Tarrant smiled at reporters and made an inverted OK gesture below his waist, said to be a "white power" sign.[151]
The case was transferred to the High Court, and Tarrant was remanded in custody as his lawyer did not seek bail.[152] He was subsequently transferred to the country's only maximum-security unit at Auckland Prison.[153] He lodged a formal complaint regarding his prison conditions, on the grounds that he has no access to newspapers, television, Internet, visitors, or phone calls.[154][needs update] On 4 April, police announced they had increased the total number of charges to 89, 50 for murder and 39 for attempted murder, with other charges still under consideration.[155] At the next hearing on 5 April, Tarrant was ordered by the judge to undergo a psychiatric assessment of his mental fitness to stand trial.[156]
On 20 May, a new charge of engaging in a terrorist act was laid against Tarrant under the Terrorism Suppression Act 2002. One murder charge and one attempted murder charge were also added, bringing the total to 51 and 40, respectively.[157]
Initial plea and pre-trial detention
On 14 June 2019, Tarrant appeared at the Christchurch High Court via audio-visual link from Auckland Prison. Through his lawyer, he pleaded not guilty to one count of engaging in a terrorist act, 51 counts of murder, and 40 counts of attempted murder. Mental health assessments had indicated no issues regarding his fitness to plead or stand trial. The trial was originally set to begin on 4 May 2020,[13] but it was later pushed back to 2 June 2020 to avoid coinciding with the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.[158]
During his time in prison, Tarrant was able to send seven letters, one of which was subsequently posted on the Internet message boards 4chan and 8chan by a recipient. Minister of Corrections Kelvin Davis and the Department of Corrections were criticised for allowing the distribution of these letters.[159] Prime Minister Ardern subsequently announced that the Government would explore amending the Corrections Act 2004 to further restrict what mail can be received and sent by prisoners.[160][161]
Guilty plea and sentencing arrangements
On 26 March 2020, Tarrant appeared at the Christchurch High Court via audio-visual link from Auckland Prison. During the appearance, he pleaded guilty to all 92 charges. Due to the nationwide COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, the general public was barred from the hearing. Reporters and representatives for the Al-Noor and Linwood mosques were present in the courtroom.[162] According to media reports, Tarrant's lawyers had informed the courts that their client was considering changing his plea. On 25 March, Tarrant issued his lawyers with formal written instructions confirming that he wanted to change his pleas to guilty. In response, court authorities began making arrangements for the case to be called as soon as possible in the midst of the COVID-19 lockdown.[163][164] The judge convicted Tarrant on all charges and remanded him in custody to await sentencing.[citation needed]
On 10 July, the government announced that overseas-based victims of the shootings would receive border exemptions and financial help to fly to New Zealand for the sentencing.[165] On 13 July, it was reported that Tarrant had dismissed his lawyers and would be representing himself during sentencing proceedings.[166][167]
Sentencing
Sentencing began on 24 August 2020 before Justice Cameron Mander at the Christchurch High Court,[168] and it was televised.[169] Tarrant did not oppose the sentence proposed and declined to address the court.[170][171] The Crown prosecutors demonstrated to the court how Tarrant had meticulously planned the two shootings and more attacks,[172][173] while numerous survivors and their relatives gave victim impact statements, which were covered by national and international media.[174] Tarrant was then sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for each of the 51 murders,[14] and life imprisonment for engaging in a terrorist act and 40 attempted murders.[9] The sentence is New Zealand's first terrorism conviction.[175][176] It was also the first time that life imprisonment without parole, the maximum sentence available in New Zealand, had been imposed.[note 1] Mander said Tarrant's crimes were "so wicked that even if you are detained until you die, it will not exhaust the requirements of punishment and denunciation."[9][15]
Following the sentencing, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters called for Tarrant to serve his sentence in Australia to avoid New Zealand having to pay the costs for his life imprisonment. The cost of housing Tarrant in prison was estimated at NZ$4,930 per day,[178] compared to an average cost of $338 per sentenced prisoner per day.[179] Peters's remarks were also motivated by Australia's policy of deporting New Zealand citizens who had committed crimes or breached character requirements.[180] Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said there was no legal basis for the proposal and that respecting the wishes of his victims and their relatives was paramount. Justice Minister Andrew Little said Parliament would need to pass a law to deport Tarrant to Australia. University of Otago law professor Andrew Geddis said it was "legally impossible" to deport Tarrant to Australia to serve his sentence. On 28 August, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton advised that, while no formal request had been made by the New Zealand Government to repatriate Tarrant to Australia and for him to serve his life sentence in an Australian correctional facility, the Australian Government was open to considering a request.[181]
Imprisonment
On 14 April 2021, Tarrant appealed against his prison conditions and his designation as a "terrorist entity" at the Auckland High Court. According to media reports, he is being imprisoned at a special "prison within a prison" known as a "Prisoners of Extreme Risk Unit" with two other inmates. Eighteen guards have been rostered to guard Tarrant, who is being housed in his own wing.[182][183] On 24 April, Tarrant abandoned his appeal.[184]
In early November 2021, Tarrant's new lawyer Tony Ellis stated that his client intended to appeal against his sentence and conviction, claiming that his guilty plea had been obtained under duress and that his conditions while on remand breached the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. Mosque attack survivors have criticised Tarrant's appeal as a form of "grandstanding" and an attempt by the terrorist to "re-traumatise" the Muslim community.[185][186]
In early November 2022, Tarrant appealed against his sentence and conviction at the Court of Appeal in Wellington. A Court of Appeal spokeswoman confirmed Tarrant's appeal and that no hearing date had been set.[187][188] Mosque shooting survivors including Imam Gamal Fouda, Temel Atacocugu, and Rahimi Ahmad described Tarrant's appeal as "re-traumatising," insensitive and attention-seeking.[187]
In early February 2024, Tarrant abandoned his judicial review against his prison conditions at the Auckland High Court. His lawyer Todd Simmonds asked Judge Venning to exclude journalists and members of the media from the proceedings, claiming that any publicity on the matter would cause "undue humiliation and embarrassment". Crown lawyer Austin Powell disagreed, arguing that the hearing was a matter of public interest. Judge Venning agreed with Powell and declined Simmonds' submission. After consulting with Tarrant, Simmonds informed the Court that Tarrant had abandoned his judicial review against his prison conditions.[189]
