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News > New Zealand

Christchurch Shooter Pleads Not Guilty to Over 90 Charges

  • With an estimated six-week trial ahead, Brenton Tarrant faces 51 murder charges, 40 attempted murder, and one for an act of terrorism.

    With an estimated six-week trial ahead, Brenton Tarrant faces 51 murder charges, 40 attempted murder, and one for an act of terrorism. | Photo: Reuters

Published 13 June 2019
Opinion

“Justice will be served and we will rise from this and transform anger to love,” one Christchurch survivor said.

The 29-year-old Australian gunman on trial for the deadly Christchurch shooting in New Zealand is pleading not guilty to all charges.

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With an estimated six-week trial ahead, Brenton Tarrant faces 51 murder charges, 40 attempted murder, and one for an act of terrorism.

A suspected white supremacist, Tarrant appeared by video link from a maximum security facility in Auckland while his lawyer entered not guilty pleas on his behalf. The accusations against him include one terrorism charge.

About 80 members of Christchurch’s Muslim community and dozens of media representatives attended the hearing in a packed courtroom, with many seated in another room watching by video.

Just months before, Tarrant had video streamed New Zealand’s worst peace-time mass shooting, attacking a Muslim temple on Friday, March 15 while the Muslim attendees were at prayer, killing 51 people with a semi-automatic weapon.

On hearing the plea, a survivor from the shooting, Mustafa Boztas, told Stuff website, “Justice will be served and we will rise from this and transform anger to love.”

Courts normally try to bring cases to trial within a year but Mander said: “the scale and complexity of this case make this challenging.”

Tarrant has been remanded in custody until Aug. 15, when the next case review hearing is scheduled.

The court lifted an order last week suppressing the publication of pictures of Tarrant. An interim suppression order barring the publication of the identity of survivors also lapsed and will not be reinstated.

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