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Speaker 1: Afternoon, the christ Church mosk attacker is blaming his mental

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Speaker 1: health for pleading guilty. He's in court seeking leave to

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Speaker 1: appeal his conviction. He's arguing that his mental health deteriorated

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Speaker 1: after he was jailed and that he was forced to

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Speaker 1: plead guilty. Emily Ansel has been following developments at the

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Speaker 1: Court of Appeal and is with us now. Hi, Emily, Hello, Okay,

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Speaker 1: what have we learned from today's hearing?

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Speaker 2: So I guess the main takeaways were sort of him

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Speaker 2: reiterating what he had been complaining about. So the marchesting

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Speaker 2: terrorist has told the Court of Appeal he was essentially,

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Speaker 2: as you say, forced into this guilty plea due to

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Speaker 2: prison conditions. So he's reference to his solitary confinement the

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Speaker 2: twenty four seven observations. The lack of reading materials was

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Speaker 2: a focus at this morning as contributing to a decline

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Speaker 2: in his health. He also mentioned he thought guards are

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Speaker 2: playing mind games with him and telling him they couldn't

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Speaker 2: understand what he was saying. So all of this, he says,

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Speaker 2: led to something of an identity crisis. Didn't know what

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Speaker 2: his views were, didn't know what his ideals or decisions

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Speaker 2: he should be making. He also noted any remorse he

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Speaker 2: felt was irrational as a result, and so as a

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Speaker 2: result as well, he could only therefore, you know, put

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Speaker 2: forward this guilty plea as that was his only option.

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Speaker 1: How did he appear?

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Speaker 2: He looked quite different to how we have seen him previously.

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Speaker 2: A few of us actually didn't recognize him initially. He

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Speaker 2: was articulate and responsive. He was wearing a white shirt,

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Speaker 2: dark rimmed glasses. He looked trimmer than he had been

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Speaker 2: and it also shaved his head, so he, you know,

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Speaker 2: put up a a good appearance in that way.

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Speaker 1: Okay, what does it actually mean that he's seeking leave

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Speaker 1: to appeal?

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Speaker 2: So in New Zealand, in criminal cases, a person sentence

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Speaker 2: in the High Court generally has about twenty working days

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Speaker 2: to file an appeal. He put his application forward much

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Speaker 2: later than that. So now he is able to request

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Speaker 2: that the court grant leave to appeal out of time.

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Speaker 2: So he has to explain the delay and show this

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Speaker 2: arguable case. And in his explanation he's told the court,

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Speaker 2: you know, multi fascinaed, multifaceted reasonings. He says he didn't

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Speaker 2: want to make such an important decision without gaps and knowledge.

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Speaker 2: He was awaiting key information such as the Royal Commission

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Speaker 2: of Inquiry report, which he had to wait over a

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Speaker 2: year for, and he wanted this and other bits of

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Speaker 2: information before making any legal decisions. He also wanted to

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Speaker 2: wait until he was of sound mental state compared to

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Speaker 2: how he claims to have been during the time he

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Speaker 2: pleaded guilty.

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Speaker 1: All right, how much longer togo in this hearing?

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Speaker 2: So this hearing is set out for five days, including today,

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Speaker 2: So this will go all the way through until Friday,

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Speaker 2: at least that's what's penciled in. But the outcome will

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Speaker 2: likely be one we have to wait for us. The

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Speaker 2: judges are expected to reserve their decision for a while.

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Speaker 1: Emily, thanks very much, appreciate it. Emily Ansel, Newstalk Z'B

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Speaker 1: reporter who was in court today.

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Speaker 2: For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to

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Speaker 2: News Talks dB from four pm weekdays, or follow the

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Speaker 2: podcast on iHeartRadio.