Psychiatrist Dr Justin Barry-Walsh describes the moment the defendant told him he heard voices telling him to light the fatal fire.
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The man who lit a deadly fire that killed five people in a Wellington hostel was far more unwell than he appeared, his lawyer claims.
If a jury were to agree with the Crown that he started the blaze as a means to get into different accommodation they would beinvolving themselves in “massive guesswork and speculation”, defence lawyer Louise Sziranyi said today.
She made the comments in her closing address for the defendant’s trial on a charge of arson and five counts of murder. He admitted lighting the fires but claims he is not guilty due to insanity.
Jurors in the High Court at Wellington have listened to hours of evidence about the fire at Loafers Lodge on Adelaide Rd, Newtown on May 16, 2023, which killed Mike Wahrlich, Liam Hockings, Peter O’Sullivan, Melvin Parun and Kenneth Barnard.
The Crown earlier suggested the defendant did not like living at Loafers Lodge and lit the fire so he could be put into different accommodation.
The Loafers Lodge arson accused has interim name suppression throughout the trial. Photo / Marty Melville
“The defence says there is no evidence to support this,” Sziranyi said. “There is no evidential basis for that.”
To agree with the Crown’s suggestion, “you would have to involve yourself in massive guesswork and speculation,” she said.
Sziranyi suggested her client had been becoming more and more unwell after absconding from a mental health facility in Auckland a few weeks prior. He is a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic.
She said the jury could not put too much weight on how settled he appeared in CCTV footage they had seen, as this only showed him in communal spaces and not in the privacy of his room.
She rebutted the Crown’s suggestion his actions in lighting the fire were deliberate and determined, saying instead that he was disorganised and had accidentally left his room key and access fob behind.
Had he known what he was doing was wrong, he would not have stayed in Wellington, she said.
Loafers Lodge hostel on Adelaide Rd in Newtown, Wellington was set on fire on May 16, 2023, killing five people.
She said CCTV footage showed his “tempo” changed on May 15, and that his footsteps pounded and there was more “noise” in his movements, as well as “agitation” in some of his actions.
She took the jury through instances of what she called “breakthrough symptoms” including maniacal laughter, “suspicious inspection of toilets and bathrooms”, and the defendant pulling the finger at a CCTV camera.
Wearing dark glasses and a cap was him trying to “move through his life incognito” and “make himself disappear”, and was a symptom of his illness.
She also referred to evidence given by the police, after the evidential interview with the defendant concluded and the officer advised him of charges and asked him to sign the notes taken, the defendant became confrontational, swore, and stood up before leaving the room.
“It is unfortunate that was not captured on video so you could see the change from the placid person that appears to be presented in the video interview,” Sziranyi said.
Six mental health experts gave their opinions on whether they believed he had a defence of insanity available to him, and all but one - the defence witness - believed he did not.
Dr Krishna Pillai, who did believe the defendant was insane, was “held in high regard as an extremely experienced forensic psychiatrist”, Sziranyi said.
She noted experts don’t always agree, and that this wasn’t a trial by expert, but a trial by jury.
The judge will sum up this afternoon and the jury is expected to begin deliberating later today, or early tomorrow.
Melissa Nightingale is a Wellington-based reporter who covers crime, justice and news in the capital. She joined the Herald in 2016 and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.
