WELLINGTON: The man responsible for the 2019 mosque attacks in New Zealand has asked the country’s Court of Appeal to overturn his guilty pleas, arguing that harsh prison conditions affected his mental state at the time he admitted to the charges.
The appeal was heard by a three-judge panel in Wellington, where the attacker said he was not mentally fit to plead guilty to terrorism, murder and attempted murder charges following the Christchurch attacks that killed 51 people.
The appellant is also seeking to challenge his sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, a punishment imposed for the first time in New Zealand in his case.
During the hearing, he told the court that prolonged isolation and restrictive prison conditions caused what he described as mental exhaustion, leaving him unable to make rational legal decisions when he entered guilty pleas in 2020.
Prosecutors disputed the claim, stating there was no clinical evidence from prison or mental health records indicating that he was suffering from a serious mental disorder at the time.
Crown lawyers told the court that the defendant had access to legal counsel throughout the proceedings and could have requested delays or raised concerns about his mental health before pleading guilty.
The Court of Appeal is expected to continue hearing arguments over several days before reserving its decision. If the court rejects the bid to withdraw the guilty pleas, a separate hearing will consider whether the sentence itself can be appealed.
The Christchurch attacks remain the deadliest mass shooting in New Zealand’s history and prompted significant changes to the country’s gun laws and counter-extremism policies.
