Lawyers representing the Christchurch mosque terrorist have made submissions at the Coronial Scope Inquiry on his behalf on Thursday, indicating he will seek a judicial review into inaccuracies in the Royal Commission report.
The mass murderer is classed as an interested party, and has rights under the Coroners Act 2006, meaning he has been permitted to watch and listen to the proceedings over the last two days and can communicate with the Coroner via his legal team.
Legal counsel for police and a number of families made submissions to ensure his participation avoids the potential for further stress to families of the deceased who participate in, or attend, the hearings, and avoids the hearing potentially being able to be used by the terrorist to further promote his cause in any way.
The mass murderer is classed as an interested party, and has rights under the Coroners Act.
It was decided he should be able to see and hear the proceedings but should not be seen or heard by any of the other participants and should not personally be allowed to participate.
Representing the terrorist, Ron Mansfield QC urged the Coroner to hold a full inquest with a broad scope, unrestricted by the work already done by the Royal Commission.
“On behalf of Mr Tarrant, it's very important we get the facts right, and the recommendations must be framed on facts that are right”.
He says the Royal Commission only spent one day interviewing his client, citing restrictions of access.
“In my submission that was not an issue given that he was compliant and wanted to speak to the Royal Commission.”
The Royal Commission report was provided to the terrorist on February 15.
“Just days ago he got a copy of that report that details matters very personal to him and has had an inability to correspond with the commission about mistakes of fact that he asserts are made within the report," Manfield says.
Now he says his client: “Proposes to judicially review the Royal Commission in the way it has conducted its work in particular some of its factual findings and recommendations”.
Mansfield’s submissions state a full Coronial Inquiry is crucial for open justice.
“This proceeding provides the opportunity for all interested parties including Mr Tarrant [the terrorist] to be heard to test the evidence so as to be sure errors of fact he insists are made by the Royal Commission are not made in this jurisdiction and might I say that surely is not just to the benefit of himself but also the families.
The hearing concludes today.
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