There is concern that the Australian who pleaded guilty to killing 51 worshipers at two mosques in New Zealand last year would use the occasion to spout his views.
An Australian white supremacist who pleaded guilty to killing 51 worshipers at two mosques in New Zealand last year will represent himself at a sentencing hearing in August, raising concerns that he might use the proceedings to push his views and traumatize the survivors once again.
The white supremacist, Brenton Tarrant, initially denied involvement before pleading guilty in March to 51 counts of murder,40 counts of attempted murder and one count of terrorism for the killing spree in Christchurch on March 15, 2019.
The massacre, the deadliest shooting in New Zealand’s history, led the government to ban most semiautomatic weapons and spurred an effort to restrict racist and violent content on the internet. The gunman had posted a white-supremacist manifesto online and live-streamed part of the shootings on Facebook.
On Monday, a judge at Christchurch’s High Court confirmed that Mr. Tarrant, who appeared via video link from Auckland Prison, had waived his rights to legal representation before allowing his lawyers, Jonathan Hudson and Shane Tait, to withdraw from the case, according to the local news media.
