Christchurch mosque shootings: Brenton Tarrant to represent himself in court Accused mosque gunman Brenton Tarrant plans to represent himself in court - raising concerns he could attempt to turn a trial into a platform for his beliefs. The duty lawyer who represented Tarrant in court on Saturday confirmed to the Herald today that he was no longer acting for him. Richard Peters said Tarrant appeared to be lucid and was not mentally unstable – other than the extreme views that he held. Peters said that his job representing Tarrant ceased on Saturday - and that the accused gunman had told him he wanted to represent himself in future. This raises the prospect of Tarrant conducting his own defence at trial and using the high-profile prosecution to promote his beliefs, which were detailed in a manifesto before Friday's shootings. "What did seem apparent to me is he seemed quite clear and lucid, whereas this may seem like very irrational behavior," Peters said. "He didn't appear to me to be facing any challenges or mental impairment, other than holding fairly extreme views." Tarrant is facing one charge of murder, but is likely to face more. He was remanded in custody to appear in the High Court on April 5, and did not apply for bail or name suppression. Peters said that Tarrant had not displayed any condolences or regret, but "our discussion didn't touch on that". He said Tarrant may want to use the trial to amplify his views, and it would be up to the trial judge to deal with that.  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12213752