Al Noor Mosque where 51 people were killed in a terrorist attack in 2019. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon

The white supremacist terrorist who massacred 51 worshippers at two Christchurch mosques now claims any remorse he had for the shootings was irrationality caused by his prison conditions.

Australian Brenton Tarrant is serving life imprisonment without parole for the 15 March 2019 terror attack.

He made his first public comments about the shootings at the Court of Appeal in Wellington on Monday morning as he gave evidence in an attempt to overturn his convictions.

The terrorist - appearing via audio-visual link with a shaved head and wearing a pressed white shirt and black-framed glasses - claimed he was irrational when he entered his pleas and was forced into pleading guilty.

The court also heard he had joked about claiming US President Donald Trump was responsible for the mass shooting.

In March 2020 the gunman pleaded guilty at the High Court to 51 counts of murder, 40 of attempted murder and one terrorism charge but the 35-year-old is now seeking to vacate his guilty pleas.

Before his August 2020 sentencing the terrorist had expressed some remorse for his actions to a report writer.

He now claimed it was because of the isolation of his confinement and poor mental state.

"I did express some remorse. I would now say that was induced by the prison conditions, I was irrational," the terrorist said.

"It was actually real but it was induced by the prison conditions inducing the irrationality."

The terrorist is housed in the specialist prisoners of extreme risk unit at Auckland Prison and has little interaction with other people, including fellow prisoners.

He was not asked if he still felt any remorse for the massacre but the court heard he had intended to plead guilty at an even earlier date, with paperwork prepared in August 2019.

The court heard the lawyers acting for him at the time raised no concerns about his ability to provide instructions.

Crown solicitor Barnaby Hawes asked the terrorist if they agreed with the lawyers' recollection.

"Yes, they do say that," Tarrant responded.

"They also say you intended to plead guilty before trial - there was going to be no trial?" Hawes asked.

"They do say that - they do. I don't know why," the terrorist responded.

He now claimed his thinking was clouded at that point by his poor mental state as a result of his imprisonment.

"I would say it was a decision induced by the conditions. It was a decision I irrationally made," he said.

The terrorist claimed to have changed his mind again and not plead guilty after being provided with a book that improved his mental health.

"When the conditions changed I realised I didn't want to plead guilty or that I had no change in beliefs. It was just the prison conditions making me want to do this," he said.

The court heard the terrorist claimed he was "utterly destablised" by his prison conditions but his claims were also called into question by reports written ahead of his sentencing.

Psychological assessments found he was fit to stand trial and fit to enter his pleas.

The court heard he asked one report writer to specifically assess his fitness to enter guilty pleas.

"I don't recall spending much time on that at all," the terrorist claimed on Monday.

"I think he asked me why I pleaded guilty and I explained my thought process for why I pleaded guilty and I think that's what in the report."

He claimed his prevarication on his mental health and aspects of the criminal process demonstrated his poor mental state.

His guilty pleas came in a rush in late March 2020.

As the country entered lockdown because of the Covid 19 pandemic, Tarrant pleaded guilty to all charges.

The court was only advised two days before that a hearing was necessary but he now claimed he was forced into the decision.

The court heard he feared if represented himself at trial he would "make a fool of myself by twitching, shaking or being unable to speak".

"I was forced to do it. If I could have had any other option I would have taken the other option," Tarrant told the court.

Asked if he had other options, such as seeking an adjournment, he responded: "Not really. With my unstable mental health and my fluctuating beliefs it would have been a nightmare".

In hindsight seeking an adjournment would have been the correct decision, the terrorist said.

Hawes suggested that there was no-one forcing him to make the decision to plead guilty.

"No. I was being forced into the decision. It's not a decision I wanted to make, that's for sure," the terrorist said.

"What other option was there? I wasn't going to be able to go to trial and defend myself adequately."

He also hoped by pleading guilty during lockdown that he would "fly under the radar" and prevent the state and media from celebrating.

It was against the advice of his lawyers.

"They told me to slow down and make sure I was making the right decision but I just wanted to get it done as fast as possible," he told the court.

He accepted he knew it was a possibility he would spend the rest of his life behind bars even before carrying out the attack.

The court also heard he had discussed potential trial defences with his lawyers.

Hawes asked the terrorist if he had floated the idea of pinning the shootings on someone else, even the possibility of pointing the finger at US President Donald Trump.

Tarrant said it was clearly a joke.

"What I said at the time is 'perhaps I could go out and say there was a second shooter on the roof, perhaps I could say it was Donald J Trump'," he said.

Asked by Hawes if he was capable of making jokes considering the mental distress he claimed to be going through at the time, Tarrant responded: "I'm still capable of making jokes - sure, yeah".

The terrorist did not want to discuss his family.

When asked by Hawes if his diminished mental state was obvious to his mother and sister, Tarrant responded: "I don't want to go into details about my family in court - it puts them in danger".

Further witnesses would give evidence on Monday afternoon.

The hearing is set down for five days.

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The court will hear evidence on an extension of time for the terrorist to appeal his conviction and sentence in February next year.

Survivors and victims' families had objected to hearing from the white supremacist as part of the coronial inquest into the attacks.

The pair fear repercussions for themselves and families for being associated with the terrorist, a court has heard.

The 15 March terror attacks left a trail of physical and psychological devastation in their wake, according to a new study on the psychological impact of the attacks

The deputy chief coroner says victims, survivors and families of 51 murdered worshippers wanted more answers than the Royal Commission of Inquiry gave them.

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