People walk past flowers and tributes displayed in memory of the twin mosque massacre victims outside the Botanical Gardens in Christchurch on April 5, 2019. Williams said that his client Arps filed an appeal Tuesday against his sentence, arguing that it is “too stern.” A date to hear the appeal has not yet been set.Īrps owns an insulation company named Beneficial Insulation, which uses a Nazi logo that was also featured in an online document published by the alleged Christchurch shooter.

“It is clear from all the material before me that you have strong and unrepentant views towards the Muslim community.” “Your offending glorifies and encourages the mass murder carried out under the pretext of religious and racial hatred,” Judge O’Driscoll said, according to the RNZ report. Under New Zealand law, distributing objectionable material to another person carries a possible prison sentence of up to 14 years.ĭuring sentencing on Tuesday, Judge Stephen O’Driscoll said that when Arps was asked for his opinion on the video, he described it as “ awesome,” RNZ reported. Shortly after the attack, New Zealand’s Office of Film and Literature classified the video as objectionable, making it an offense to possess, share or host it. Philip Neville Arps, 44, was sentenced in Christchurch District Court on Tuesday to 21 months in prison after pleading guilty to two charges of distributing objectionable material, his lawyer Anselm Williams confirmed to CNN.Īrps sent copies of the footage – which was streamed live on March 15 by the mosque shooter – to about 30 people soon after attacks on worshippers inside two Christchurch mosques, according to CNN affiliate Radio New Zealand. A New Zealand man has been jailed for almost two years for sharing a video of the Christchurch mosque shootings that killed 51 people.

Christchurch shooting video live stream