{"id":466965,"date":"2026-02-08T19:06:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T19:06:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/466965\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T19:06:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T19:06:18","slug":"new-zealanders-hoped-never-to-see-the-christchurch-terrorist-again-now-he-wants-to-appeal-his-sentence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/466965\/","title":{"rendered":"New Zealanders hoped never to see the Christchurch terrorist again. Now he wants to appeal his sentence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Extraordinary arrangements are in place in Wellington, New Zealand, as a convicted terrorist prepares to address the country’s Court of Appeal.<\/p>\n

The man in question is not a New Zealander, but an Australian.<\/p>\n

He will tell the court that, when he pleaded guilty to the murder in 2019 of 51 men, women and children at two Christchurch mosques, he was incapable of making rational decisions.<\/p>\n

He is asking that his pleas be vacated and that a trial be held.<\/p>\n

Christchurch attacker appeals convictions and sentence<\/a><\/p>\n

The Australian man convicted of killing 51 people when he opened fire on two Christchurch mosques in 2019 files\u00a0an appeal against both his convictions and his sentence.<\/p>\n

If the court declines that request, he wants leave to appeal his sentence.<\/p>\n

He will address the court from a special unit, a prison within a prison, located within the walls of the country’s highest security facility in Auckland.<\/p>\n

About a dozen inmates classed “extreme risk” are held there, but it was set up primarily to house him.<\/p>\n

The conditions of his confinement will form the basis of the 35-year-old’s argument that he was not fully functional when he decided in March 2020 to plead guilty to the massacre.<\/p>\n

Speaking via a video link, he is expected to tell the court that the conditions at the prison are torturous and inhumane.<\/p>\n

The terrorist without a name<\/p>\n

The man’s name is Brenton Harrison Tarrant, but some in New Zealand refuse to let those words pass their lips.<\/p>\n

Four days after the March 15, 2019, attack, the country’s then-prime minister Jacinda Ardern addressed parliament.<\/p>\n

“He is a terrorist. He is a criminal. He is an extremist,” she told a nation in shock and mourning.<\/p>\n

“But he will, when I speak, be nameless.<\/p>\n

“He may have sought notoriety, but we in New Zealand will give him nothing. Not even his name.”<\/p>\n

\"New<\/p>\n

Jacinda Ardern said the terrorist would remain “nameless”. (Supplied: Christchurch City Council)<\/p>\n

While opinions in the community are divided over the issue of naming the shooter, institutions in New Zealand have largely followed the then-prime minister’s lead.<\/p>\n

The report<\/a> of the royal commission into the shootings, delivered in November 2020, names the terrorist once.<\/p>\n

He is otherwise referred to as “the individual”.<\/p>\n

The royal commission concluded the individual’s actions were driven by “an extreme right-wing Islamophobic ideology”.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A mourner stands outside the Al Noor Mosque in Christchurch. (ABC News: Brendan Esposito)<\/p>\n

It found that, after the Australian arrived in New Zealand in August 2017, “his life was largely devoted to planning and preparing for the terrorist attack”.<\/p>\n

The lawyers representing the convicted man during this week’s proceedings will also remain nameless.<\/p>\n

In what is a first in New Zealand, their identities have been fully suppressed<\/a> over concerns for their safety and that of their families.<\/p>\n

They will be known simply as counsel A and counsel B.<\/p>\n

The gunman’s application to appeal his sentence and vacate his guilty pleas was filed well beyond the deadline.<\/p>\n

“He has to have a very good reason for that delay,” said James Rapley KC, a Christchurch barrister.<\/p>\n

\"man<\/p>\n

Barrister James Rapley said this case is very difficult for New Zealanders. (ABC News: Che Chorley)<\/p>\n

“It’s a very high bar because there needs to be some finality with proceedings.<\/p>\n

“This is very difficult for the victims, for family, for this city, for Christchurch and this country, so the court is very mindful of that.<\/p>\n

“There needs to be very good reasons, very good reasons, for the delay, and there needs to be some merit to the argument to the appeal.<\/p>\n

“And if there isn’t \u2014 he won’t be granted leave.”<\/p>\n

Fears of platforming<\/p>\n

The terrorist’s address to the court will mark new ground.<\/p>\n

In the almost seven years since the Christchurch attack, very few words have been uttered in public by the man who live-streamed the massacre minutes after he sent out a manifesto<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There were fears that he would use his sentencing hearing in August 2020 to espouse extremist views, but in the end, he waived his right to speak.<\/p>\n

He was interviewed for the royal commission into the attacks, but did not give public testimony.<\/p>\n

He is expected later this year to appear before an ongoing coronial inquest into the 51 deaths, despite objections from family members.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A memorial for the 51 victims stands outside the Al Noor mosque. (ABC News: Che Chorley)<\/p>\n

The court appearance in Wellington will be the first opportunity to get any real sense of the former personal trainer from Grafton, NSW, who went on to commit mass murder.<\/p>\n

The ABC is the sole international network granted a seat in the courtroom for the hearing, which has been set down for five days and is subject to strict suppression orders.<\/p>\n

Barrister James Rapley says the court will be mindful of the possibility the convicted man could use the stand as a platform.<\/p>\n

“The court will regulate its own hearing very carefully and be very aware of those factors,” he said.<\/p>\n

The terrorist’s possible motivations in seeking this hearing are also at the forefront of Aya Al-Umari’s mind; her brother, 35-year-old Hussein Al-Umari, was murdered in the attack.<\/p>\n

\"woman<\/p>\n

Aya Al-Umari suspects the terrorist wants to cause more trauma for families of the victims. (ABC News: Che Chorley)<\/p>\n

“I suspect one of the reasons why he is trying to do this is to try and stay relevant, to want to stay in the limelight, to want to cause more trauma far beyond the years that have already passed,” she said.<\/p>\n

But Ms Al-Umari said he will not succeed.<\/p>\n

“Because the worst has already happened.<\/p>\n

“I mean what could be worse be than losing my brother and the 50 others?”A family’s sorrow<\/p>\n

I first met the Al-Umari family in June 2019.<\/p>\n

It was a dreary, wet day in Christchurch, and they had just watched Brenton Tarrant plead not guilty to murder.<\/p>\n

They were distraught.<\/p>\n

Outside the court, Hussein and Aya’s mother, Janna Ezat, said nothing less than the death penalty would suffice for the man who had taken her only son.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Janna Ezat’s son Hussein Al-Umari was killed at the Al Noor mosque in March 2019. (Supplied: Janna Ezat )<\/p>\n

“Law have to be changed for this incident,” she wailed, as a weeping Aya paced beside her. “Law have to be changed.”<\/p>\n

Fast forward to March the following year.<\/p>\n

I caught up with the family again just ahead of the first anniversary of the attack.<\/p>\n

They showed me his grave<\/a> on the outskirts of the city.<\/p>\n

Janna spoke softly to her son and asked him to visit her again in her dreams.<\/p>\n

Her husband Hazim placed his hands on the ground, saying he felt his son’s warmth there.<\/p>\n

Both said they did not know how they were going to survive his loss.<\/p>\n

‘Unprecedented violence’<\/a><\/p>\n

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has described the targeted attacks on two Christchurch mosques as an “extraordinary and unprecedented act of violence”. Read her full statement.<\/p>\n

Shortly afterwards, with the country in COVID lockdown, an extraordinary court hearing was arranged, at which the gunman entered surprise guilty pleas to all 51 charges of murder, 40 of attempted murder and one of engaging in a terrorist act.<\/p>\n

I called Janna, who was smiling and had a lightness about her.<\/p>\n

She said she was wearing white to celebrate the guilty pleas and was in her backyard dancing.<\/p>\n

The families had been spared the agony of a trial.<\/p>\n

By the sentencing hearing in August of that year Janna had come to a bold decision.<\/p>\n

“I decided to forgive you Mr Tarrant,” she told the gunman as she gave her victim impact statement.<\/p>\n

Aya shares that sentiment.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Aya Al-Umari has returned to Christchurch to watch this week’s court proceedings. (ABC News: Che Chorley)<\/p>\n

“There is no point in letting the anger brew and continue to brew because the only person who will be impacted by this anger is yourself.”<\/p>\n

The family has since moved away from Christchurch to Auckland, part of their “healing journey”.<\/p>\n

But what happened there keeps pulling them back.<\/p>\n

Aya has returned to the city to follow this week’s court proceedings.<\/p>\n

Provision has been made for victims and family members to watch a delayed recording in Christchurch.<\/p>\n

“I don’t want to be here, but circumstances made me be here”, Aya said.<\/p>\n

“And we just have to try and carry that and move forward.”<\/p>\n

Re-awakening New Zealand’s darkest day<\/p>\n

As the attacks unfolded on March 15, 2019, Jacinda Ardern said it was clear that “this is one of New Zealand’s darkest days”.<\/p>\n

What followed was an outpouring of grief and of love for the Muslim community.<\/p>\n

From schoolboys to bikies, wherever you went in those first days, it seemed someone was performing an impromptu haka outside a mosque or community centre.<\/p>\n

It was their way of showing respect and solidarity.<\/p>\n

\"an<\/p>\n

Al Noor mosque in Christchurch. (ABC News: Che Chorley)<\/p>\n

“They are us”, the prime minister said of the community, many of whom had come to New Zealand as migrants, some as refugees<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Brenton Tarrant most definitely wasn’t one of them.<\/p>\n

At his sentencing hearing, relatives of those killed addressed him directly<\/a>, calling him a “low life”, a “coward” and a “maggot”.<\/p>\n

One asked the judge to “send Brenton back to Australia, where he came from”.<\/p>\n

After he was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, many hoped he would disappear forever.<\/p>\n

Now the convicted terrorist is back, exercising his legal rights, and in so doing, scratching at his victims’ wounds, reawakening the memories of their darkest day.<\/p>\n

Hussein Al-Umari was posthumously awarded the New Zealand Bravery Star for drawing the terrorist’s attention away from other worshippers as they attempted to flee the mosque.<\/p>\n

\"Al-Umari<\/p>\n

The family of Hussein Al-Umari with his award. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

“Mr Al-Umari’s selfless actions demonstrated outstanding bravery, at the cost of his life,” the citation<\/a> reads.<\/p>\n

“Hussein has always been the hero”, said his sister Aya.<\/p>\n

“I’m very, very proud of him.<\/p>\n

“And I will take that bravery as I’m listening in [to the hearing] and I’m sure he’ll be very proud of me.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Extraordinary arrangements are in place in Wellington, New Zealand, as a convicted terrorist prepares to address the country’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":466966,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[74436,115961,1108,43,238773,238772,44,5316,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-466965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-brenton-tarrant","tag-christchurch","tag-court","tag-headlines","tag-jacinda-allen","tag-mosque","tag-news","tag-terrorism","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=466965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/466966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=466965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=466965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=466965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}