Christchurch terror suspect pleads not guilty
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — The Australian man accused of killing 51 people and wounding dozens more as they worshipped at two mosques in New Zealand in March pleaded not guilty to scores of counts — including murder and a terrorism charge — in a court hearing Friday.
Brenton Tarrant’s denial of guilt means survivors of the March 15 attacks, their families, and the families of those who were killed must prepare for a lengthy trial, to start on May 4, 2020, that will pose logistical and security challenges for officials.
It will also force New Zealand’s court system to consider how to prevent Mr. Tarrant from using the trial as a platform for his self-proclaimed white supremacist views.
If found guilty at trial, Mr. Tarrant, 28, faces the prospect of life in prison without parole, a sentence that has never been handed down in New Zealand but which can be awarded at a judge’s discretion. The longest previous murder sentence in the country was 30 years without parole for a man who killed three people.
Fifty people were shot dead by a gunman wielding semiautomatic weapons in the attack on the Al Noor and Linwood mosques in the South Island city of Christchurch. Another man died of his injuries weeks later in a hospital.
Mr. Tarrant is charged with the attempted murder of 40 other worshippers. Prosecutors have also filed one charge under terrorism laws, which are rarely invoked in New Zealand.
At Friday’s court appearance, Mr. Tarrant appeared via an audiovisual link from New Zealand’s only maximum security prison in Auckland, the country’s largest city. He smiled slightly when the terrorism charge was formally filed and when one of his lawyers, Shane Tait, entered the not guilty pleas. He did not speak during the hearing.
The news that Mr. Tarrant would fight the charges was met with an audible intake of breath from the packed public gallery, where all 80 seats were reserved for survivors, their families and the families of those killed. An additional 60 family members were seated in a second courtroom, where Mr. Tarrant’s appearance was streamed to them by video.
Psychiatric reports, which had been ordered at his last court appearance, found that Mr. Tarrant was mentally fit to enter a plea, said Justice Cameron Mander, who presided over the hearing.