If he jumped, he knew it was going to hurt. But behind him, his room was filling with thick smoke.
When asked by Crown prosecutor Grant Burston if he could stay in his room, where he’d been playing Xbox, Sili told the High Court at Wellington he couldn’t.
“No, I thought I had to get out; I was choking, panicking and realised the fire was really bad. I had to get out quickly.
“I had no choice except to jump,” he told the jury.
CCTV footage from outside Sili’s door at 12.22am showed thick smoke filling the corridor, someone banging on doors, and a voice yelling: “get up”.
Smashing sounds could be heard, which Sili told the court he thought were light bulbs cracking in the heat.
Sili today gave evidence at the trial of four people charged after the fatal fire at Loafers Lodge early on May 16, 2023.
Barry Collins (clockwise from left – right) Marie Murphy, Gregory Mein and Glenn McAllister who are on trial in the High Court at Wellington over the fatal fire at Loafers Lodge. Photo / RNZ
Gregory Bruce Mein, Marie Louise Murphy, Glenn Brendan McAllister and Barry Charles Collins each face five charges (one for each victim) of gross negligence causing death.
They also face five alternative charges of breaching health and safety, thereby committing manslaughter.
All four deny the charges.
Former Loafers Lodge resident Faamatala Sili outside the High Court at Wellington.
Jury sees CCTV footage
During Sili’s evidence, the jury also saw CCTV footage outside the building showing the moment he jumped.
Sili described clinging to the small window ledge outside his room, gripping the window frame for about a minute before pushing out from the building and landing on the neighbouring roof.
His legs took his weight, and as he landed he winded himself and struggled to breathe. Above him, a man was crying out for help.
Sili was the only man to jump onto the neighbouring roof that night, but firefighters rescued four others from the hostel’s roof.
Having jumped, Sili said he realised he’d injured his legs, which he told the court were shaking so badly he had to crawl across the roof.
At that point he raised the alarm and was rescued by firefighters who carried him to an ambulance, which took him to Wellington Hospital, where he was treated for a gash to his leg and an injured ankle.
Four others were taken to hospital for smoke inhalation and burns.
First fire
The court also saw CCTV footage of the fire set earlier that night about 10.30pm when a sofa on the third floor was lit.
Sili told the court he’d also heard the smoke alarm after the first fire. But he told the court he wasn’t concerned, as it stopped quickly.
He’d assumed it was a drill and wasn’t particularly worried as the fire alarm went off about twice a week.
Another resident, Ben Hofmann, lived on the mezzanine floor, however that night he came down to the kitchen on level 3 to make coffee.
Standing at the sink, Hofmann told the court he’d smelt smoke and discovered the nearby sofa was on fire.
He and other residents put the fire out using a fire hose as there were no fire extinguishers.
He told the court it was clear the fire had been deliberately lit, and as he returned to his room, he’d commented to other residents that he wasn’t going to sleep that night.
He also told the court of his efforts to help others out of the building during the second fire, but said he had been frustrated after going to the third floor and finding no one was leaving the building.
Asked by Marie Murphy’s lawyer Stephen Winter what he meant, Hofmann said it was clear an arsonist was responsible, but had not been identified.
He also agreed with Winter that after the first fire he thought the matter was being dealt with by staff and agreed the logical conclusion was that police would be called.
Flames seen in the top storey of the Loafers Lodge accommodation in Adelaide Road, Newtown, Wellington. Photo / Supplied, Axel Dann, RNZ
Police operation
The court also heard of the chaotic scenes police encountered when they arrived at Loafers Lodge that night, due to the volume of people.
Police established there were 95 residents living in the five-storey building, which consisted of an entrance on the ground floor, three floors of residential rooms and a mezzanine floor, which also had residential rooms, at the top.
Only 82 were in the building when the fatal fire started just after midnight.
Residents were aged 18 to 79, with an average of 51 years.
The five residents who died were: Kenneth Barnard, 67, Liam James Hockings, 50, Peter Glenn O’Sullivan, 64, Melvin Joseph Parun, 68, and Michael Wahrlich, 67, known by many as Mike the Juggler.
All lived on the mezzanine floor.
Detective Sergeant Ben Evans told the court when he arrived at the scene, some residents were trying to go back into the building, others were refusing to move, and some were refusing to get out.
He recalled a conversation with a man on a balcony, vaping. When the police called up to him, telling him he had to get out, he told them to “f*** off”.
The trial before Justice Helen McQueen is set down for eight weeks.
Catherine Hutton is an Open Justice reporter, based in Wellington. She has worked as a journalist at the Waikato Times and RNZ. Most recently she worked as a media adviser at the Ministry of Justice.
Join the NZ Herald’s Open Justice team for Case by Case, a video and podcast series examining the disputes and decisions making headlines across New Zealand.