The Australian man charged with the Christchurch terror attack has shocked the court this morning by entering a plea of Not Guilty to 51 charges of murder. During the hearing, the gunman also pled not guilty to charges of terrorism and 41 counts of attempted murder. In total, the gunman is facing 92 charges.
The 28 year old appeared calm, composed and at times smirked during the hearing at Christchurch’s High Court. Appearing via video link from an Auckland high-security prison, the gunman entered his pleas via his lawyers, Auckland-based barristers Shane Tait and Jonathan Hudson, despite reports that the gunman would be representing himself in court.
The Australian Gunman is the first person to be trailed under New Zealand’s terror laws, which came into effect following 9/11. Presiding High Court Justice Cameron Mander stated that courts work towards bringing cases to trail with in a year of the crime, however “the scale and complexity of this case makes this challenging.”
As a result, the hearing will commence on May 4, 2020. As reported by Al Jazeera, the gunman will remain in custody until August 16, when a case review hearing will take place. He’s been in custody since the shocking events of March 14 this year, which left 51 innocent people murdered across two locations in Christchurch.
The last hearing took place soon after the massacre on April 5, where the courted ordered the gunman undergo a mental assessment to learn if he was fit to stand trail. At the hearing this morning, Judge Mander announced there were no issues related to the gunman’s mental wellbeing, and the defendant is fit to stand trial.
Quiet gasps could be heard from some of the 80 members of Christchurch’s Muslim community who sat in the back of the court for the hearing.
It’s unclear now what the gunman’s legal defence will be off the back of the not guilty plea, other than the potential of long, drawn out trial.
