26 March 2020 - Christchurch gunman pleads guilty to New Zealand mosque attack
Christchurch gunman pleads guilty to New Zealand mosque attacks that killed 51
Eleanor Ainge Roy and Charlotte Graham-McLay (The Guardian, 25/03/2020)
The Australian man charged with murdering 51 people in two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, has suddenly changed his plea to admit all charges at a hastily arranged court appearance.
On 15 March last year, a man dressed in military fatigues and armed with several automatic weapons shot dead 51 worshippers at Al Noor and Linwood mosques in inner-city Christchurch. Forty-nine people were also injured in the attacks, which were livestreamed on the internet.
The horrific attack shocked New Zealand and is regarded as the worst massacre in the country’s modern history, as well as the country’s largest ever criminal prosecution.
Life in prison looms for Australia’s Christchurch gunman, now NZ’s first convicted terrorist
Kris Gledhill (The Conversation, 26/03/2020)
Less than a fortnight after the first anniversary of the Christchurch mosque shootings, and on the first day of New Zealand’s four-week COVID-19 lockdown, the Australian man responsible for the attacks has surprised the nation by pleading guilty to all charges.
As well as being guilty of 51 counts of murder and 40 counts of attempted murder, he becomes the first person convicted of terrorism in New Zealand.
Up until now, the accused man – who The Conversation has chosen not to name – had pleaded not guilty to all charges and was due to stand trial from June 2. But the guilty plea means a trial is no longer necessary and the process now moves to the sentencing phase.
Christchurch mosque shootings: Victims respond to Brenton Tarrant's guilty pleas
(New Zealand Herald, 26/03/2020)
Victims of the Christchurch mosque shooting have reacted to the news of the shooter's guilty plea with shock, learning of the surprise hearing only after it was held.
Brenton Harrison Tarrant today made the admission that he was the lone gunman who murdered 51 Muslims at two Christchurch mosques on March 15 last year.
The 29-year-old Australian entered the guilty pleas at a special, hastily-arranged High Court hearing in Christchurch this morning.
The roots of the Christchurch mosque massacre gunman
Nick O'Malley, Tim Barlass and Patrick Begley (Stuff.co.nz, 26/03/2020)
On March 15, 2019, a 28-year-old loner from small-town Australia committed New Zealand's worst mass shooting, killing 51 Muslims and injuring 49 others in Christchurch. What path took him there?
In the end, it came down to this: a mattress and a bookshelf, a colander and a dish rack, a few battered suitcases and a broken electric fan. A bottle of Steinlager and a family pack of Bluebird potato chips. A toaster and a worn vinyl computer chair.
A week after the March 15 mosque attacks in Christchurch, the material total of the gunman's New Zealand life was dumped into a caged trailer outside his unremarkable rental in Dunedin.