Loafers Lodge fire trial: Director neglected his duties, prosecutor argues

Gregory Mein neglected his duties by “implicitly trusting” that fire safety systems in the Loafers Lodge building were being maintained and operated as they should, according to a prosecution lawyer.

Mein – the director of the lodge – and three others are on trial in the High Court in Wellington for manslaughter after five people died in the building in the 2023 fire.

But a lawyer for the defence says the building had a recent fire safety warrant of fitness that was signed off by council, and that any failings or wrongdoings are at the feet of the agencies tasked with ensuring the boarding house was safe.

The five people died when a fire lit by Esarona Lologa tore through the budget accommodation building – with nearly 100 hundred residents inside – in May 2023.

Last year Lologa was sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of murder and arson for deliberately lighting the fire that killed Michael Wahrlich, Melvin Parun, Peter O’Sullivan, Kenneth Barnard and Liam Hockings on 16 May 2023.

Gregory Bruce Mein, Barry Charles Collins, Glenn Brendan McAllister, and Marie Louise Murphy each face 10 manslaughter charges over the operation and maintenance of the building.

Jurors were told on the opening day of the trail yesterday that the four defendants faced five charges of gross negligence causing death.

Prosecutor Stephanie Bishop today outlined the five alternative manslaughter charges relating to breaches of health and safety regulations.

The case is set to be a mammoth undertaking with nearly 50 witnesses, made up of emergency service staff and residents, scheduled ahead of further testimony from council and fire safety agencies.

Their testimonies would be supported by tens of thousand of submitted documents.

Acting for Mein, lawyer Christopher Stevenson KC told the jury Mein had come into the business about 24 months ahead of the fire.

He said he took on the role of temporary director after his friend and former owner Chris Stevenson – no relation – became seriously ill and could not manage his own affairs.

He said Mein was eager to move on from the role, but disputes among Stevenson’s family meant it was not possible.

“He did not fail to do anything he was required to do. [Loafers Lodge] wasn’t anything to do with Greg Mein,” Stevenson said.

The business’s practices were well established long before Mein’s involvement and the building had received a warrant of fitness that was signed off by Wellington City Council shortly before the fire, he said.

“There were shocking and disturbing failings and wrong doing which was long-standing by agencies that had the responsibility to keep this building safe and to keep the people in it safe,” Stevenson said.

Stephen Winter – counsel for part-time manager Murphy – said the budget accommodation was a “place of last resort” for tenants, many of whom had criminal convictions, drug and alcohol issues or mental health challenges.

He said evidence would show residents would smoke and drink in their rooms and often displayed a “lack of response” when fire alarms were triggered in the building.

Winter said Murphy had little warning of Lologa’s mental state and history when she checked him in.

“It was Mr Lologa, in a series of criminal acts, that killed the five victims of this fire.

“Please consider carefully the actions of that man and how easily that could have been planned against,” Winter said.

Alex Dye – counsel for Glenn McAllister – said his client was a victim of Lologa’s actions.

He said McAllister was a tenant in the building who volunteered to assist with the running of the building and was paid “nominal amounts for some but not all of his help”.

He said in attempting to charge McAllister for failing to fulfil the duties of the business, the Crown had “invented a job that did not exist”.

He said McAllister had lived in the building for nearly 15 years, considered many of the tenants his friends, and had been traumatised by the fire and the manslaughter charges that followed.

Counsel for Barry Collins Val Nisbet said evidence would show Collins was the person who turned off the alarm after the first fire was set by Lologa.

He said Collins – who was also a tenant in the building – was never paid any money to assist with the fire systems and did so in order to protect his place in his home of more than a decade.

“He was asleep and was woken by the alarm. He got up and went downstairs and turned it off. That is what he thought he was supposed to do… It was a favour he was asked to do every now and again,” Nisbet said.

He said the fact that Nisbet went back to bed himself was evidence of the regular false alarms and the entrenched response to their occurrence that had become embedded over more than a decade.

Detective Sergeant Olivia Mears was the second in charge of the police investigation following the fire.

She walked the jury through drone footage and photographs of the building showing external damage following the fire.

Mears said, while the building was originally intended as accommodation for students and staff at the nearby hospital, the building’s tenancy had changed over time to comprise of “mainly middle aged men” who had trouble finding accommodation elsewhere.

“That may have been due to behavioural problems and other matters,” she said.

A three-dimensional architectural model of the building’s structure showed the layout of the building, including the fourth floor mezzanine where each of the five victims of the fire lived.

Witnesses photographs, video footage and CCTV showed the development of the fire and the arrival of emergency services.

In a montage of footage smoke can be seen from the building’s upper levels and growing in thickness and intensity as the street fills with fire crews and onlookers.

Shortly after 1 am flames from inside the third floor start to overtake the upper part of the building. Debris falls to the street below as the fire billows from the Adelaide Road facing windows. Above the building the sky glows red with the fire on the rooftop.

The jury heard the 111 call placed to emergency services at 12.12 am by McAllister reporting “severe smoke” on level three of the building.

“I’m about to hit the manual firearm,” McAllister told dispatchers before another alarm goes off during the call.

Mears said in March 2024 police filed for a warrant to monitor phone calls from Mein and Murphy.

Their home addresses were searched, devices seized and data extracted from each of their phones.

She said Murphy was “very co-operative” in the searches and subsequent dealings with police.

Lawyer for McAllister, Stephen Winter questioned Mears about her knowledge as to what had been communicated to staff at the lodge concerning Lologa’s criminal and mental health history.

“He was a man who had contact with corrections and had recently been in a psychiatric facility in Auckland,” Winter said.

Mears said she was not aware of those factors being put to the management of the lodge.

Eight weeks have been set aside for the trial which continues tomorrow.