New Zealand mosque terrorist's appeal ruled 'utterly devoid of merit'

The man responsible for the deadly 2019 mosque attacks in New Zealand has failed in a bid to overturn his convictions.

Brenton Tarrant pleaded guilty in March 2020 to 51 charges of murder, 40 of attempted murder and a charge of committing a terrorist attack. He was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of release.

During a hearing in February, he sought leave to appeal his guilty pleas and sentence.

A judgement released on Thursday said Tarrant's proposed conviction appeal was "utterly devoid of merit."

"The facts concerning Mr Tarrant's offending are beyond dispute," the judgement said.

"He has not identified any arguable defence, or indeed any defence known to the law."

The court did not accept his evidence about his mental state before pleading guilty.

"He was not coerced or pressured in any way to plead guilty. 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 judgement 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."

Normally, people must appeal within 20 working days of their conviction. Tarrant's appeals were filed 505 working days out of time, the judgement noted.

The court said after February's hearing, Tarrant fired his lawyers, filed a notice of abandonment and advised the court he no longer wished to pursue either his conviction or sentence appeal.

The court continued its ruling on the conviction appeal as the case was "undoubtedly of significant public interest," the judgement said.

"His offending is unprecedented in New Zealand and had, and continues to have, a profound impact on the victims and their families."

The court granted his application to abandon the appeal against sentence.

Strict suppression orders remain in place for the case, including permanent name suppression for Tarrant's legal counsel.

The attacks on the Al Noor mosque and the Linwood Islamic Centre in Christchurch were filmed by the gunman and live-streamed on social media.

The 2019 attack led to major gun reforms in the country, and the establishment of the Christchurch Call, an initiative to tackle terrorist and extremist content online.