The lawyer for the terrorist who murdered 51 people in the Christchurch mosque attacks says his client intends to seek a judicial review of the Royal Commission.
Coroner Brigitte Windley is heading the inquiry. Photo: POOL / STUFF LTD
Ron Mansfield QC told a coronial hearing Brenton Tarrant asserts the commission's report on New Zealand's worst mass shooting contains factual errors.
The Australian white supremacist is serving a life sentence without parole for killing worshippers at the Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre in 2019.
Mansfield said his client was questioned for five hours as part of the inquiry but did not receive a transcript of his interview or a draft of the report's findings, "even though it dealt with him in much detail and can be seen to be critical of his conduct for obvious reasons".
Mansfield said his client only received a copy of the Royal Commission's final report last week.
"That logically means he's had an inability to be able to correspond with the commission regarding mistakes of fact that he asserts are made within the report, facts that are relied on by the royal commission for its recommendations," he said.
"Not only will he correspond through counsel with the royal commission in an effort to ensure that errors of fact are corrected, he proposes to judicially review the royal commission in relation to the way in which its conducted its work and in particular some of its factual findings and recommendations."
Ron Mansfield addressing the hearing via a video link. Photo: POOL / STUFF LTD
Mansfield said the Department of Corrections had denied his client access to material he should have received as part of the coronial inquiry.
While there was a need for secrecy for national intelligence and security reasons, Mansfield said some aspects of the commission's work could have been done in public.
He said the families of those killed should also have been more involved in the commission of inquiry.
Mansfield argued it was a "failure in the exercise of natural justice" and suggested the coroner put a "red line through the report".
"This proceeding provides the opportunity for all interested parties including Mr Tarrant to be heard, to test the evidence, so as to ensure that errors of fact which he instructs have been made by the royal commission are not made in this jurisdiction," he said.
Earlier, Human Rights Commission lawyer John Hancock urged the coroner to put the victims at the heart of her inquiry.
"Significant weight should be accorded to the views of the affected families, survivors and witnesses as to issues of scope. Their participation was not central to the royal commission's inquiry but it is much more central to this particular inquiry," he said.
John Hancock makes his submission on behalf of the Human Rights Commission. Photo: Screenshot
Grieving families, Islamic organisations and police are among those who have also given submissions to Coroner Brigitte Windley over three days of hearings to determine the scope of her inquiry.
She told the hearing they had sought answers and accountability.
"I've heard the submissions of interested parties inviting me to be brave, to be fearless and to play my part to heal the deep wounds from the March 15 atrocities," she said.
Tarrant pleaded guilty and in 2020 was sentenced on 51 counts of murder, 40 of attempted murder and one of terrorism.
He opened fire inside the Al Noor Mosque while broadcasting the attack on Facebook Live, killing 44 people, two of whom died of their injuries in hospital.
The terrorist then drove to the Linwood Islamic Centre where he shot a further seven people dead.
The government has pledged to implement all 44 recommendations of the Royal Commission, which identified a host of failings including a lack of proper gun licence checks and a preoccupation with Islamist extremism by counter-terrorism officials.