16 Sep 2025

Insanity defense argued in Loafers Lodge trial

From Morning Report, 6:20 am on 16 September 2025

A psychiatrist has told a jury the man who lit the fatal Loafers Lodge fire was insane at the time and had no intention of hurting anyone. The 50-year-old defendant has denied murdering five people by setting the Wellington boarding hostel alight in 2023. Lauren Crimp is following the trial at the High Court in Wellington.