The 50-year-old man is on trial at the High Court in Wellington.
Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii
WARNING: This story deals with the details of body recovery.
A court has heard how some of those who died in the Loafers Lodge fire fell through a collapsed floor in the building.
A 50-year-old man, whose name is suppressed, is on trial at the High Court in Wellington, and denies murdering five people by setting the boarding house alight in May 2023.
It’s not disputed he lit two fires, but his lawyers intend to raise a defence of insanity.
The court was shown photos and drone footage taken in the days after the fire which showed parts of the mezzanine floor collapsed onto the third floor below, debris strewn throughout parts of the building, and structural beams charred-black.
A man in the public gallery yelled out “look at what you did” before walking out of the courtroom.
The jury also heard the difficult process police needed to undertake to remove and identify the bodies of those who died, looking for them amid burnt-out furniture and debris.
Detective Sergeant Hayley Adams, officer in charge of the scene, reported that the kitchen and dining areas had been completely consumed by fire.
She reported that the first arriving crew had found the fire fully engulfing parts of the building, with smoke travelling down to floor level.
She said those undertaking scene examination and body recovery faced significant safety concerns due to structural and fire damage, and asbestos.
Steel beams inside the third floor needed physical support, and the roof had partially collapsed.
Teams – fully clothed in forensic gear including hard hats and respirators – needed to walk through a fully enclosed tunnel to get in and out of the building, where they were washed down with water.
Adams said she identified four bodies on the third floor when she first walked through the building.
These were the bodies of Kenneth Barnard, Michael Wahrlich, Liam Hockings and Melvin Parun.
She said it appeared the bodies of both Liam Hockings and Melvin Parun had fallen through from the floors above.
Parun’s body was underneath a mattress which had collapsed through from the floor above.
“The location where he was situated was consistent with him having fallen through the floor when it collapsed, given that was his bedroom that was directly above.”
Debris had to be cleared to get to Hockings’ body.
The body of Peter O’Sullivan was discovered underneath a mattress, near to Room 56, which had been entirely consumed by fire and collapsed into the floor below, Adams said.
Adams said bone fragments helped identify him.
CCTV footage
In CCTV footage shown to the court, a man sets an object on fire and places it under a couch in the level three lounge.
Photo: Supplied / NZ Police
Earlier in the day, the court was shown extra CCTV footage of the moments the defendant lit the fire in a cupboard on the third floor of the building.
The footage showed the man walking into the toilet after he lit the fires, and voices being heard in the footage.
Defence lawyer Louise Sziranyi asked Detective Mitchell Murdoch whether those voices could be the man talking to himself.
He said that was entirely possible, but it wasn’t certain.
The court was also shown moments from earlier in the afternoon on the day before the fire, when three loud bursts of laughter could be heard as the defendant walked through the hallways and past the kitchenette.
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