Christchurch attacker to represent himself at sentencing

Brenton Tarrant, who pleaded guilty to killing 51 Muslims in a terrorist attack in Christchurch in March last year, has chosen to represent himself at his sentencing next month.

In March, the Australian pleaded guilty to 51 counts of murder, 40 of attempted murder and a terrorism charge after dozens of worshippers were gunned down at two mosques in the attack, with Tarrant live-streamed on Facebook.

At a briefing hearing in the high court at Christchurch, Tarrant appeared by audio-visual link from his maximum-security prison in Auckland, with his lawyers confirming that they were withdrawing their state-funded representation of him.

Tarrant will be sentenced on 24 August, and faces the possibility of life in prison without chance for parole – a term which would be a first in New Zealand.