Flowers for victims of the terror attack outside Al Noor Mosque in Christchurch. Photo: RNZ / Nathan Mckinnon
The lawyers assigned to represent the Christchurch mosque terrorist in his appeal have been granted permanent name suppression.
In March 2020, Brenton Tarrant pleaded guilty to 51 charges of murder, 40 charges of attempted murder and one charge of engaging in a terrorist act.
But in November 2022, he lodged an appeal against his conviction and sentence.
The two lawyers who were assigned to act for him for the appeal applied for an order permanently suppressing their names and identifying details.
Lawyer A said they have appeared in many high-profile cases and in that capacity, had received a limited amount of abusive emails.
They were concerned that the Tarrant case was both different and unique because of the nature of the crimes he had been convicted of.
The lawyer said they were concerned not only for their own safety but that of their children.
Lawyer B is also an experienced criminal defence lawyer. They also said they were concerned for their own safety and that of their spouse and children.
The court said it was likely the two lawyers would be the recipient of abuse and threats from people "hiding behind the relative anonymity that social media platforms provide".
"It is impossible to predict the exact sources of this abuse and we consider it possible that the abuse would come from both those who abhor and those who support Mr Tarrant."
The court said Tarrant was a unique offender having been convicted of crimes which rank him as the worst mass murderer in New Zealand - and a convicted terrorist.
The court said the lawyers were likely to receive abuse and threats which are extreme, and thereby cause them undue hardship.
It granted the application.
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