Brenton Tarrant was sentenced to life without parole after he pleaded guilty to 51 counts of murder, 40 counts of attempted murder and a terrorism charge.
New Zealand’s Court of Appeal has confirmed he has filed an appeal against his conviction and sentence for the attack.
No hearing has been set at this stage.
In August 2020, when Tarrant was sentenced, he did not oppose life without parole.
In handing down the sentence, Justice Cameron Mander said there was no minimum period of imprisonment to sufficiently denounce his crime.
“Your crimes are so wicked that even if you are detained until you die, it would not exhaust the requirements of punishment and denunciation,” he said.
The killings were “brutal and beyond callous”.
“Your actions were inhumane,” Mander said.
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“You showed no mercy. You are not only a murderer, but a terrorist. You sought to essentially attack New Zealand’s way of life.”
When Tarrant entered the Masjid an-Nur and the Linwood Islamic Centre on March 15, 2019, shooting dozens of worshippers in his path, the steroid-loaded terrorist was carrying out an attack that had taken months of diligent and intensive planning.
He bought military-style ballistic armour and tactical vests to enable him to carry numerous magazines, and wore this over military-style camouflage clothing.
He went to several rifle clubs and practised with different firearms, and had modified the triggers of his military-style semi-automatics rifles to fire faster.
Tarrant planned his attack down to the finest details.
He timed his entry into the mosques when the maximum number of worshippers would be present, and anticipated the time needed to carry out the attacks and travel between the mosques.
Tarrant initially pleaded not guilty to his crimes and was set to go to trial, but made a surprise turnaround and entered guilty pleas to all charges.
