Loafers Lodge fire trial: Resident Faamatala Sili tells court he jumped from window to escape

Open Justice reporter - Wellington·NZ Herald·12 Oct, 2026 06:00 AM6 mins to read‌Former resident Faamatala Sili jumped from the burning building onto a neighbouring roof during the fire at Loafer Lodge.In May 2023, a fatal fire at Loafers Lodge in the Wellington suburb of Newtown killed five people.In December Esarona Lologa was convicted and sentenced on five counts of murder and one of arson for lighting the deadly blaze.Now company director Gregory Bruce Mein, property manager Marie Louise Murphy, and the building fire warden and residents Glenn Brendan McAllister, and Barry Charles Collins, who were responsible for the fire alarm, are on trial in the High Court at WellingtonEach faces five charges of manslaughter by omission to discharge their legal duty (being a dangerous thing), or five alternative charges of manslaughter by unlawful acts. Loafers Lodge resident Faamatala Sili clung to the window ledge outside his bedroom just after midnight in May 2023 and paused, scared.Below him was his escape route from the fire and thick smoke engulfing the third floor at the Wellington hostel where he’d lived for about a year. To