Esarona Lologa was found guilty of causing the deaths of five hostel tenants
A 10-strong jury has found Loafers Lodge arsonist Esarona Lologa guilty on five counts of murder and one count of arson, reported the NZ Herald.
The unanimous verdict, which was reached after 17 hours of deliberation, was read out in Wellington High Court on Friday 26 September. The order to suppress Lologa’s name was lifted as well.
Detective Senior Sergeant Tim Leitch described the Loafers Lodge investigation as “extremely challenging and difficult” in a statement published by the Herald.
The incident took place in May 2023. Lologa got a room at Loafers Lodge in Wellington and tried to start a fire under a couch before departing the hostel. This fire was put out in time. When Lologa returned to the building, he lit a second fire in a wardrobe, waiting until the flames spread before leaving.
Michael Wahrlich, Melvin Parun, Peter O’Sullivan, Kenneth Barnard and Liam Hockings failed to escape the hostel and were killed in the fire.
During the five-week trial, Lologa claimed a defence of insanity, with his lawyers arguing that the incident occurred during an episode of paranoid schizophrenia, of which Lologa had been diagnosed. Lologa did not contest that he had lit the fires.
Leitch’s team spoke to 90 residents and studied hours of CCTV footage as well as the hostel’s layout during the investigation.
“I’m just pleased that we got the result that we were looking for, and I know that it’s given some comfort to the family that we’ve held somebody to account for the death of the men”, Leitch said in a statement published by the Herald.
The victims’ families praised the verdict, with O’Sullivan’s brother Paul expressing his confidence in the justice system. They also expressed gratitude to the police, firefighters and previous Loafers Loodge residents who testified.
Per the Herald, Lologa had been convicted for attempted murder over 15 years previously.
