WELLINGTON, New Zealand – The Australian white supremacist who admitted to killing 51 worshipers in a mass shooting at two New Zealand mosques fired his lawyers and will represent himself when sentenced next month.
Brenton Harrison Tarrant pleaded guilty in March to 51 counts of murder, 40 counts of attempted murder and one count of participating in a terrorist act for the shooting of people praying at the two mosques in the city of Christchurch in 2019.
His sentencing hearing, delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, is scheduled to begin in Christchurch on August 24 and could last more than three days. The date was confirmed at a Superior Court session in Christchurch on Monday attended by some survivors of the shooting.
GASPS IN THE COMMUNICATION ROOM AS THE NEW ZEALAND MOSQUE MASSACRE SUSPECTS SMIRKS WHILE THE LAWYER ENTERS NO GUILTY PLEA
Tarrant’s defense team, attorneys Shane Tait and Jonathan Hudson, requested permission to withdraw as his attorney during Monday’s hearing, a role they have played since April 2019. They told the court that Tarrant had ordered them to withdraw as they wished. exercise your position. right to represent yourself.
Tarrant participated in the proceedings on Monday via video link from his Auckland jail. Judge Cameron Mander approved Tarrant’s request to fire his lawyers, saying he was satisfied that he understood his right to legal representation and wanted to waive that right.
FILE – In this March 16, 2019, file photo, Brenton Tarrant, the man charged in the Christchurch Mosque shootings, appears in Christchurch District Court in Christchurch, New Zealand. The man accused of killing 51 people in two mosques in Christchurch on Friday, June 14, 2019, pleaded not guilty to all charges brought against him.
(AP Photo / Mark Mitchell, Pool, File)
The court will still appoint an attorney to provide advice if Tarrant requests it. Mander asked for a pre-sentence report and victim statements for the hearing.
Tarrant faces life in prison, and the judge has some discretion to decide how old Tarrant must be before he is eligible for parole.
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Attacks on people praying in mosques shocked New Zealand, where new laws were quickly passed banning the deadliest types of semi-automatic weapons. It also sparked global changes to social media protocols after the gunman broadcast his attack live on Facebook, where he was seen by hundreds of thousands of people.
The sudden guilty plea in March shocked survivors and family members and relieved many people who feared that Tarrant would try to use his trial as a platform to promote his views.
