Even the mosque terrorist, described as the most reviled person in New Zealand, must have the same treatment as everyone else under our law, his team of four lawyers have told the Court of Appeal as they closed their case today.
They've spent the week arguing for the mass murderer's 92 guilty pleas to be vacated because of his fluctuating mental health induced by what he claims were "inhumane and torturous" prison conditions at the time.
Lawyer A, who has name suppression, began their closing submissions quoting Nelson Mandela, "A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones".
They told the panel of three Court of Appeal judges that when it comes to human prison conditions, "they apply to everyone, even Mr. Tarrant, who has been described as the most reviled person in New Zealand".
"He is entitled to the rule of law and to be treated in accordance with the same standards that are attached to all prisoners in New Zealand."
Lawyer A continued: "Even in this most terrible of cases, there are minimum expectations, minimum, which we say were ignored in this unprecedented case."
The application, filed well out of time, five-and-a-half years after his sentencing, as opposed to the mandatory 20 working days, claimed his guilty pleas were not entered voluntarily due to the 'oppressive conditions'' in which he was held in solitary isolation.
The terrorist has claimed due to his isolation he suffered a complete nervous breakdown and loss of his identity.
Lawyer B, another of the terrorist's counsel with suppression, told the panel "Mr Tarrant's conditions were like no other.... more extreme in PERU (prisoners of extreme risk unit) than any other prisoner in New Zealand's history".
Mass murderer speaks to lawyers
Forty-six minutes into the hearing, the killer, who is permitted to listen to proceedings from his maximum security unit at Auckland's Paremoremo prison, requested to speak with his lawyers. A short adjournment was taken for them to inform him that he would have to wait until the end of their closing addresses.
Just before midday, Court of Appeal president Justice Christine French informed the hearing that Corrections had informed the court the prisoner had declined to re-enter the prison booth, and was no longer listening to the hearing.
All three judges have had a number of questions for the killer's legal team, to clarify the case.
The terrorist is currently attempting to convince the Court of Appeal to let him reverse the guilty pleas he entered after the atrocity, so a trial could take place years after the event.
The killer, who shot down worshippers at random and without mercy, pleaded guilty to 51 charges of murder, 40 counts of attempted murder and one charge of committing a terrorist act in 2020.
He now claims he only did so because he was suffering from “inhumane” prison conditions in solitary confinement.
The 35-year-old Australian gave evidence to that effect in court on Monday as his appeal hearing began, expressing no remorse for his crimes and instead saying his own mental health was “wildly fluctuating” in jail.
He is currently serving a sentence of life in prison, without parole.
He claimed he felt forced to plead guilty because the lawyers he had at the time refused to run the defence he wanted.
“It was a decision induced by the conditions, rather than a decision I rationally made,” he said during his evidence.
Families of those he slaughtered, and those who survived his bullets have described him as evil and revolting throughout the hearing, saying he's treating it like a game for his own entertainment.
Temel Atacocugu, who survived nine bullets, told 1News that watching the hearing has triggered flashbacks of the day he was shot at point blank range in Al Noor mosque.
"This is not easy for us... he got what he deserved, he has to deal with it as a man...and stop self-pitying himself."
He says the man who tried to murder him can "rot in jail".
The hearing will conclude with Crown submissions tomorrow.
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