New Zealand jury convicts man of murder for boarding house fire that killed five

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — A New Zealand jury convicted Esarona David Lologa of murder and arson on Friday for setting a fire at the boarding house where he lived, killing five fellow tenants. The High Court in Wellington reached the verdicts after less than three days of deliberations, and the name suppression that had been in place during the five-week trial was lifted with the conviction.

Prosecutors acknowledged that Lologa has schizophrenia, but argued the fatal blaze was not a direct product of his illness. They said he lit the fires to seek a transfer to other accommodation. Lologa’s lawyers did not deny setting the fires but argued he was not guilty by reason of insanity. In New Zealand, insanity means the defendant cannot understand that the act was wrong.

The jurors heard that Lologa first set a couch in a communal area ablaze late one evening, prompting an evacuation. After residents had tried to extinguish the initial fire, he returned and placed cushions and a blanket in a cupboard before setting them alight. He left the building without raising the alarm or contacting emergency services. During the trial, recordings of desperate phone calls to the fire department from people inside and accounts from tenants were presented to the court. A man interviewed by police denied setting the fires, despite officers telling him he had been seen on security-camera footage.

Loafers Lodge, a 92-bed hostel in Newtown near Wellington’s city center, housed a mix of social-services clients, older residents and disabled residents, as well as nurses from a nearby hospital. The building remained standing in the district after the fire, though the blaze left it severely damaged.

The five people who died included Michael Wahrlich, a veteran busker who juggled tennis balls, and Liam Hockings, known for leading daily foot tours through the area. The other victims were Kenneth Barnard, Peter O’Sullivan and Melvin Parun.

Authorities have said the residence lacked fire sprinklers, and building codes did not require sprinklers in older structures that would need retrofitting. Dozens of other old boarding houses were found to lack sprinklers or functioning smoke-detection systems. The incident provoked inquiries and reviews, though no sweeping legal changes have yet been enacted. One lawmaker has called for cross-party support for a bill to establish a registry for boarding houses and their owners and to mandate record-keeping.

Lologa is due to be sentenced in November. Authorities have filed manslaughter charges against four other people who were involved in the boarding house’s management and operation, including aspects of the fire safety system; those charges are pending and no trial date has been set. The deaths have fed ongoing concerns about the safety and regulation of boarding houses that serve low-income residents and the broader housing system in New Zealand.