The attack was the deadliest mass shooting in New Zealand's history. His victims were all Muslim and included children, women and the elderly. On March 15, 2019, the gunman attacked Friday worshippers at Christchurch's Al Noor mosque, before moving on to the Linwood prayer centre. Members of Christchurch's Muslim community have previously raised concerns, saying any appeal would cause further harm to families still grieving the loved ones killed in the attack. On Tuesday, New Zealand's Court of Appeal confirmed an appeal against the convictions and sentence had been filed. He is expected to face trial in May next year.Brenton Tarrant pleaded guilty in 2020, but last year signalled via a lawyer that he believed he had received "inhumane and degrading" treatment while in custody and was considering an appeal. Tuesday’s case came after Australian-born Brenton Tarrant, 28, pleaded not guilty last week to 92 charges stemming from the March massacres – New Zealand’s worst peacetime mass shooting. Williams later told The Associated Press news agency his client had filed an appeal against his sentence at the High Court but declined to comment further. “It’s my submission that this court needs to be very careful to sentence Mr Arps based on what it is that he has actually done, and what he accepts he has done, not on the basis of the views that he holds,” Williams said. Appeal filedĪccording to court documents, Arps had been charged with “offensive behaviour” in 2016 and fined NZ$800 ($543) after he delivered a bloodied pig’s head to Christchurch’s Al Noor mosque, one of the two places of worship attcked in March.Īrps’ lawyer Anselm Williams argued his client should not be sent to prison. O’Driscoll added that Arps – a self-described white supremacist who argued he had a right to distribute the video under the banner of freedom to pursue his political beliefs – had described the footage as “awesome” and possessed strong and unrepentant views about the Muslim community. “Your offending glorifies and encourages the mass murder carried out under the pretext of religious and racial hatred,” District Court Judge Stephen O’Driscoll said.
In addition to sharing the footage with about 30 people, Arps also possessed a doctored clip of the attacks featuring crosshairs and a “kill count”, the court heard.
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