On the night of May 16, 2023, smoke and panic swept through Loafers Lodge, a modest boarding house in Newtown, Wellington. By dawn, five lives had been lost, dozens more were scarred by trauma, and a city was left grappling with the horror of one of its deadliest fires in recent memory. Now, more than two years later, the man responsible—Esarona David Lologa, 50—has been found guilty of arson and the murder of those five residents, following a harrowing, nearly five-week trial at the High Court.
The jury, composed of six women and four men, deliberated for 17 hours before delivering their verdict. Lologa, whose name was only recently made public, set two separate fires that night. His actions resulted in the deaths of Michael Eric Wahrlich (known to many as Mike the Juggler), Melvin Parun, Kenneth Barnard, Peter Glenn O’Sullivan, and Liam James Hockings. The trial’s outcome marks a decisive moment in a case that has exposed not only the devastation wrought by the fire but also the complex intersection of criminal justice and mental health.
Throughout the proceedings, the courtroom was transfixed by the testimonies of survivors, first responders, and mental health experts. According to 1News, the Crown called nearly 100 witnesses, including residents who described desperate attempts to escape the inferno—some forced to leap from windows, others trapped by smoke and flames. One resident, Faamatala Sili, recounted his terrifying choice: “If I didn’t, I was probably gonna die that night, but I didn’t really want to do it.” Sili ultimately jumped onto the roof of a neighboring building, his legs shaking and gashed, while the screams of an elderly man echoed behind him.
The trial was punctuated by haunting evidence. As RNZ reported, jurors listened to the 111 emergency call made by Toetu Tui Saili, who, trapped by smoke in his fourth-floor room, pleaded, “Help, please help me, I can’t breathe.” The call, interrupted by the sharp beeps of a smoke alarm and Saili’s own coughing, grew increasingly frantic before his voice faded into a chilling, “I’m dead.” Miraculously, Saili survived, rescued after making it to the roof. In contrast, the court also heard a call from victim Liam Hockings, who perished during or shortly after his own desperate plea for help.
Surveillance footage played in court revealed a quiet act of kindness in the hours before tragedy struck. Resident Kenneth Barnard, who would later die in the fire, was seen assisting Lologa after a smaller blaze—also set by Lologa—had been extinguished. “Do you want a sleeping bag or something?” Barnard offered, suggesting Lologa sleep in the lounge. Lologa initially declined but eventually accepted, only to later light the fatal fire in a cupboard down the hall from Barnard’s room. Minutes after Barnard wished him “all the best,” Lologa walked away, leaving the flames to spread unchecked.
The question at the heart of the trial was not whether Lologa started the fire—there was no dispute on that fact—but whether he was legally insane at the time. His defense, led by forensic psychiatrist Dr Krishna Pillai, argued that Lologa suffered a “serious psychotic relapse” that night, rendering him incapable of understanding the moral wrongness of his actions. CCTV footage showed Lologa pacing the halls, appearing agitated and paranoid. Dr Pillai testified, “[He] believed that individuals at Loafers Lodge were targeting him for intimidation purposes at that time, but he also feared that he was to be harmed.”
Lologa’s history of mental illness was extensive and troubling. Crown lawyer Stephanie Bishop spent 22 minutes reading out two decades’ worth of clinical records. Lologa, who has paranoid schizophrenia, had been hospitalized eight times prior to the fire, and a ninth time following his arrest. During his most recent admission to an Auckland facility just weeks before the blaze, he was hallucinating, hearing ocean waves, and “smelling evil on the ward.” He escaped from that facility and made his way to Wellington, where he would ultimately set the fires.
But the Crown, relying on the testimony of five expert witnesses, challenged the insanity defense. According to forensic psychiatrist Dr Justin Barry-Walsh, Lologa’s account of the night was inconsistent, and he appeared to know what he was doing was wrong. “Previously he had referred to voices starting that night that had whispered to him. Now he’s telling me the devil was talking to him, and the devil’s voice was loud, and the devil’s voice had been there for four years. These are things that I’d not heard from [the man] before,” Barry-Walsh told the court. He further testified that Lologa said voices instructed him to “burn the place down” because he believed other residents were plotting against him and a camera was spying on him.
Adding to the complexity, Lologa had a lengthy criminal history: 50 previous convictions, including for serious violent assault, attempted murder, and arson. In 2009, he was jailed for attacking his partner’s teenage son with a machete, fracturing his skull. He had also been convicted of attempted arson in 1996. Each time he was treated for his mental illness, he responded well to medication but would deteriorate upon release, leading to repeated hospitalizations and, ultimately, the fatal night at Loafers Lodge.
The trial exposed not only the horror of the fire but also the emotional toll on survivors and first responders. Firefighters with decades of experience wept on the stand as they described searching for survivors and, later, victims. Station officer Joshua Leceve shared his fear as the building’s roof threatened to collapse: “When I touched the ceiling, I could feel the heat through my glove and had to pull my hand away. I gave it a little push and there was a bit of movement. I believe that this was structural instability.” Another officer, George Mihailoff, recalled the grim moment he realized he was standing on a body amid the collapsed debris.
Throughout the trial, Lologa sat mostly in silence, flanked by security and a support person, sometimes rocking back and forth or closing his eyes. On one occasion, he broke his silence dramatically, threatening to kill a psychiatrist on the stand, after which he was removed from the courtroom for the remainder of the day. The only tender moment came when his sister, Failelei Lologa, offered a teary smile and wave through the glass, which he acknowledged with a subtle raise of his eyebrows.
While the verdict brings some closure, questions remain. Another trial is expected next year, with four other individuals facing manslaughter charges related to the fire. Authorities are investigating whether the state of the building—and the management and compliance of its fire safety systems—played a role in the tragedy’s scale. For now, the community continues to mourn the lives lost, honor the bravery of those who survived, and grapple with the complicated legacy of a man whose actions, shaped by mental illness and a troubled past, led to unimaginable loss.