Tense scenes as Chch terrorist's referees give evidence

By Danielle Clent of RNZ

There were tense scenes as the two referees for the Christchurch mosque gunman's firearms licence gave evidence at the coroner's court.

It saw one of the referees tell a lawyer to "sit down" and refuse to answer her question while the other threatened to walk out as another lawyer was "annoying" him.

The inquest into the deaths of the 51 worshippers murdered at Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre on 15 March 2019 has re-convened for its second phase.

Deputy Chief Coroner Brigitte Windley is examining how the terrorist obtained his firearms licence.

On Thursday afternoon, the terrorist's gaming friend and his parent, who were the two referees for the firearms licence application, gave evidence.

The gaming friend said he met the terrorist while playing World of Warcraft online and he had known him about 10 years by 2017.

He told the inquest he had only met the terrorist in person on three separate occasions where they travelled together, and the terrorist stayed at his family home.

He also took the terrorist to a gun club on two occasions and took him rabbit and possum shooting.

When asked by counsel if he was aware of the terrorist's extremist views, he said he was aware he was right-wing and "anti-immigration", but he was well travelled and had spoken positively about the countries he visited.

From his knowledge, such countries included Pakistan, Ukraine, China, India, Japan, Chad and France.

He said on occasion, he would "shit post" online but he did not take the terrorist's posts too seriously as everyone online did similar to try get a reaction from others.

He considered the terrorist a sensible and responsible person as at the time he was a referee, he was not aware he had committed any crimes.

The gaming friend became hostile when asked why his opinion on the importance of being a referee had changed from 2017 to how he felt about it now.

"Do you know what happened on March 15?" he asked lawyer Kathryn Dalziel before saying he would not answer the question and telling her to "sit down".

Probed further by Coroner Windley, he said he had not fully gauged what could happen, the risks or consequences.

In hindsight, he would have been a lot more vigilant, he said.

His parent gave evidence next, saying he had only interacted with the terrorist on two occasions while he was staying at his home.

He thought he was a "nice chap" and believed he knew him well enough to be a referee.

When questioned on this matter by counsel assisting the coroner Ian Murray, the man became more hostile saying he "obviously bloody thought that" he knew him well enough to be a referee as he acted as one.

The outburst caused Coroner Windley to step in, telling him his behaviour was not helpful.

In response, he said Murray was "annoying him" and threatened to walk out.

When asked if he was aware of any issues the terrorist may have that should have prevented him holding a firearms licence, the witness responded: "In my opinion he was alright to do it, alright? Stop trying to dig a hole."

Earlier on Thursday, it was revealed that the witness had said during his referee interview that the terrorist was a "good outstanding young man" and a "nice person".

The gaming friend's parent said the terrorist was "outstanding" in what he was doing, uprooting himself to move to New Zealand to "do things".

"I thought he was a nice guy, alright? So that's that."

The second phase of the inquest is set down for three weeks, with about 15 witnesses expected to be called.