Feb. 9 (UPI) -- An Australian man serving life without parole for shooting dead 51 people and attempting to murder another 40 in partially live-streamed attacks on two New Zealand mosques in Christchurch in 2019, asked the Court of Appeal on Monday to allow him to reverse his plea to not guilty.
Claiming the "torturous and inhumane" conditions in which he was held in prison rendered him unable to make logical decisions, Brenton Tarrant, 35, who also pled guilty to one terrorism charge, was also seeking to appeal his sentence.
Testifying from prison via a video link to a hearing expected to run all week, the self-professed white supremacist will attempt to persuade a three judge bench he should be permitted to withdraw his plea and be tried on all the charges.
If the appeal court vacates his pleas, he will go to trial in the High Court. Failing that, a separate hearing in coming months will rule on his appeal against his sentence.
The current hearing will rule whether mental illness impacted the course of justice and whether statutory time limits apply as both appeals were filed after the expiry of the window for appeals.
