A 50-year-old man has denied murdering five people by setting Loafers Lodge alight on 16 May, 2023. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii
A former Loafers Lodge resident has described his panic and fear as he tried to escape the deadly blaze that tore through the Wellington hostel.
Crown prosecutor Grant Burston on Tuesday read a High Court jury a statement from Timothy Nevin, who said he awoke gasping for air in his smoke-filled room.
The evidence was given during the trial of a man who has denied murdering five people by setting Loafers Lodge alight on 16 May, 2023.
The 50-year-old has name suppression, and his lawyers intend to use the defence of insanity.
The Crown says the man deliberately lit the fire, knowing it was "morally wrong" and that people could die as a result.
All five of those who died were on fourth floor mezzanine. That was where Nevin's room was, and where he was sleeping that night.
"I woke up and the whole room was full of smoke, it was enough for me to know that it wasn't fake," his statement read.
"I was gasping for air when I woke up."
Nevin tried to find a hallway exit, but the door handle was hot to the touch. He was scared of fueling the fire, and scared for his life.
He began to panic.
"I was suffocating, and it was overwhelming. The smoke was around my eyes, and in my face."
Desperate for air, he returned to open his bedroom window and heard people on the roof.
"I thought I wouldn't be alone up there, I pushed up the window on the roof and managed to push through."
Firefighters rescued him from the roof.
The court had earlier heard of firefighters' desperate attempts to battle the blaze and get people out: kicking down doors, carrying frail residents down stairs and plucking others from balconies.
But they were forced out themselves when conditions became too unsafe.
Debris was falling, there was risk of spontaneous combustion - which they said did eventuate - and Assistant Commander Martin Wilby was "incredibly worried" about the building pancaking under the 250,000 litres of water it had been sprayed with.
While crews inside the building decided themselves to evacuate, Wilby also made that order from the ground.
"I know that this decision may have altered the number of deceased, but I had to make decisions to protect my staff," he said.
The trial is set down for five weeks.
Former residents, police officers and representatives from community organisations are among the dozens of Crown witnesses.
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