INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage caption
The suspect flashed a hand sign as he appeared in court on Saturday charged
with murder
New Zealand police have admitted that the person named on a charge sheet as the murder victim of the alleged
Christchurch mosques attacker is actually alive.They said the naming on the document for the first court appearance of Australian Brenton
Tarrant, 28, was an administrative error.The attacks left 50 dead but only one charge of murder was initially brought.The error would not
affect the legal case, police said.Police Minister Stuart Nash told New Zealand's RNZ: "It was an administrative error, it will have no
impact whatsoever on the court process, I understand it's been rectified
Let's bring this guy to justice."Police said they had apologised to the person incorrectly named on the charging document, which would be
The person's name has been suppressed by a court order.The defendant appeared in court on Saturday
He was remanded in custody without a plea and is due in court again on 5 April.Fifty people lost their lives in the shootings at two mosques
Law Prof Warren Brookbanks, from Auckland University, said there was no risk the accused could be released."They can alter the charges, they
can have the information withdrawn and have the fresh information, which has the proper facts… In the circumstances and given the nature
of the offences, I don't think there's any chance he's going to be released," he told RNZ
All of the victims have now been formally identified, police have confirmed.The attack on two mosques in Christchurch on 15 March was the
deadliest in the country's history.
