Ross Giblin Former prosecutor Ross Burns said a long-winded terrorism trial would be "unduly traumatic" for victims' families. He said terrorism charges would likely prolong the trial. With murder charges, only two things really had to be proved - whether the accused did it and whether it was his intention to kill. In the Operation 8 case, Terrorism Suppression Act charges were considered but former Solicitor-General David Collins QC refused to let those charges be used and said the Act was unworkable. Normally an accused person could seek a judge alone trial, Judge Wade said, but that would not apply to the murder charge Tarrant already faced.

Source: Stuff March 18, 2019 04:18 UTC