Fri 14 June 2019:
The Australian man accused of the attacks at two Christchurch mosques faces charges for terrorism and 51 murders. A mental health assessment has found him fit to stand trial.
Brenton Tarrant on Friday entered not-guilty pleas to 51 charges of murder, 40 charges of attempted murder and one terrorism charge at the Christchurch High Court in relation to the March 15 massacre. In an attack broadcast live on Facebook, a lone gunman armed with semi-automatic weapons targeted Muslims attending Friday prayers in Christchurch on March 15. It was New Zealand’s worst peacetime mass shooting and led to substantial changes in the country’s gun laws. Mental health assessments found Tarrant fit to stand trial.
“No issue arises regarding the defendant’s fitness to plead, to instruct counsel, and to stand his trial. A fitness hearing is not required,” Judge Cameron Mander said in a statement issued shortly after the hearing. The 28-year-old Australian appeared via video link from a small room at the maximum security prison in Auckland where he’s being held. His link had been muted, and he did not try to speak. Wearing a gray sweatshirt, Tarrant, a self-proclaimed white supremacist, smirked as his lawyer entered the pleas but otherwise showed little emotion.
Some 80 survivors and relatives of those killed attended the hearing. Mander scheduled a six-week trial beginning next May. Tarrant will be remanded in custody until August 16, when a case review is scheduled.
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