Key Takeaways:
- Esarona David Lologa has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum non-parole period of 22 years for murdering five people in a fire at Loafers Lodge in Wellington.
- Lologa was found guilty of five counts of murder and one count of arson, and was sentenced in the High Court in Wellington.
- The sentencing took into account the degree of planning, the number of people killed, the arson charge, and the vulnerability of the victims.
- Lologa’s antisocial behavior and schizophrenia were considered in the sentencing, reducing the minimum non-parole period by three years.
- The Crown called around 100 witnesses, including mental health professionals who believed Lologa was not insane when he lit the fire.
Introduction to the Case
The High Court in Wellington has sentenced Esarona David Lologa to life in prison with a minimum non-parole period of 22 years for the murder of five people in a fire at Loafers Lodge. The fire, which occurred in May 2023, resulted in the deaths of Michael Wahrlich, Melvin Parun, Peter O’Sullivan, Kenneth Barnard, and Liam Hockings. Lologa, 50, was found guilty of five counts of murder and one count of arson, and was sentenced by Judge Peter Churchman. The sentencing was the culmination of a lengthy trial, which saw the Crown call around 100 witnesses, including mental health professionals who testified that Lologa was not insane when he lit the fire.
The Sentencing
Judge Churchman considered a range of factors in his decision, including the degree of planning that went into the lighting of the fires, the number of people killed in the blaze, the arson charge, and the vulnerability of the victims. Lologa’s antisocial behavior and schizophrenia were also taken into account, with the latter reducing the minimum non-parole period by three years. The severity of the arson charge meant that the maximum penalty of 14 years was required, which will be served concurrently with the life sentence. Lologa will be detained as a special patient in a hospital and will need to be assessed before he can be moved to a prison. Throughout the sentencing, Lologa was largely emotionless, but was seen fidgeting at times.
The Trial
The trial, which lasted for four weeks, saw the Crown present a significant amount of evidence, including testimony from Loafers Lodge residents who described their harrowing escapes from the blaze, firefighters who fought back tears recounting their experiences, and mental health professionals who believed Lologa was not insane when he lit the fire. The defense argued that Lologa was insane at the time of the fire, but this was rejected by the jury. The mental health professionals who testified for the Crown pointed to Lologa’s own comments to police and psychiatrists, including that he had "done nothing wrong", as evidence that he understood the difference between right and wrong. In contrast, psychiatrist Dr. Krishna Pillai, testifying for the defense, believed that Lologa was insane when he lit the fire and was experiencing a serious psychotic relapse.
Lologa’s Background
Esarona Lologa, also known as Esa, was born in Wellington in 1975, but was raised by his grandmother and uncle in a small village near Apia, Samoa. He was initially educated in Samoa but moved to Wellington when he was about 13, where he lived with his uncle and attended high school in Lower Hutt. As a young man, Lologa had a relationship with a woman almost 20 years his senior, who had a teenage son. In 2009, Lologa was convicted of attempting to murder the son with a machete, after he believed his partner was cheating on him. Lologa had 50 previous convictions, including the attempted murder and an attempted arson in 1996, after he broke into a butcher and tried to burn it down.
Mental Health History
Lologa first came to the attention of mental health services in 1999, when he was 24, after he began hearing voices in his head that were swearing at him. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia and was first admitted to a mental health facility in 2000. The court heard details about Lologa’s clinical history spanning more than two decades, including nine hospital admissions. During adulthood, Lologa lived in Wellington and Auckland, staying in social housing and boarding houses, as well as his car and the street, according to psychiatrists. Lologa absconded from a mental health facility on April 21, 2023, three weeks before the fires, and there was a warrant out for his arrest. This history of mental health issues and antisocial behavior was taken into account during the sentencing, with Judge Churchman noting that Lologa’s schizophrenia had reduced his minimum non-parole period by three years.