WELLINGTON, New Zealand — A jury began its deliberations Wednesday in the trial of a man accused of murdering five people in Wellington, New Zealand, by deliberately setting fire to a boarding house that was nearly full when the blaze swept through the building.
The 50-year-old man, whose name was suppressed for the duration of the trial at the High Court in Wellington, pleaded not guilty to murder and arson charges for allegedly starting the May 2023 fire that killed five men at Loafers Lodge, a 92-bed hostel.
Jury must decide if defendant was insane when he set the fire
His lawyers didn’t deny that their client lit the blaze, but they said he was not guilty by reason of insanity. In New Zealand, this means a jury must accept the defendant was incapable of understanding that his actions were wrong when he set two fires in the multistorey boarding house.
Prosecutors rejected the case for insanity during the four-week trial, saying the defendant knew his actions were wrong. They accepted the man had schizophrenia but said he lit the blaze because he didn’t like living in the boarding house and wanted to seek a transfer to other accommodation.
The man twice tried to set the building alight on the fatal night, the court heard during the trial. He set a couch ablaze late in the evening, prompting an evacuation of the building.
After residents put out the fire, the man returned and placed cushions and a blanket in a cupboard before setting them alight. The defendant left the building without raising the alarm or calling emergency services.
The man’s lawyers said their client was more mentally unwell than anyone had realized on the night of the fire, according to Radio New Zealand. They rejected the prosecutors’ case that their client wanted a transfer, saying there was no evidence of that.
In a police interview played for the jury, the man denied setting the fires, despite officers telling him he had been captured on CCTV footage doing so, RNZ reported.
Residents who died included older and disabled men
Some of the boarding house residents included social services clients and older, disabled and otherwise vulnerable people, as well as nurses working at a nearby hospital. The burned-out building remains standing in the district of Newtown, near the central city of New Zealand’s capital.
The men who died were all residents and included colorful and well-known Wellington identities. Michael Wahrlich was a veteran busker who juggled tennis balls and Liam Hockings’ daily foot tours of the area made him a familiar face to locals. The other three victims were Kenneth Barnard, Peter O’Sullivan and Melvin Parun.
Murder carries a mandatory life sentence in New Zealand, with judges required to set a prison term of at least 10 years before an offender can apply for parole. Arson carries a sentence of up to 14 years in prison.
Justice Peter Churchman outlined possible findings, including an alternative verdict of manslaughter, to jurors before they began deliberating, according to RNZ.
Others are charged with manslaughter over the blaze
Authorities filed manslaughter charges in June against four other people who law enforcement said were responsible for the boarding house’s management and operation, including aspects of the fire safety system. They all deny the charges. A trial date hasn’t been set.
The deaths provoked outrage in New Zealand about the dilapidated and often unregulated state of boarding houses, which mostly accommodate low-income people with few options. Officials said at the time that the residence had no fire sprinklers and building codes did not require installation of sprinklers in older buildings that would need to be retrofitted.
Dozens of old boarding houses like Loafers Lodge were discovered to have no sprinklers, officials found, and many did not have working smoke detection systems. The fire provoked a suite of reviews and inquiries, though no legal changes have been made.
One lawmaker is seeking cross-party support for a bill to establish a register for boarding houses and their owners and mandate record-keeping.
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