It's been an emotional week in the Wellington High Court with outbursts from the public gallery and tears from jurors, as the final movements of all five men killed in the Loafers Lodge fire was played.
The Crown has finished presenting its case in the trial of a 50-year-old man accused of arson and murder, and his lawyers, who are pursuing a defence of insanity will open next Monday.
Footage from inside the Wellington hostel revealed Liam Hockings, one of the victims, was the only person from the 92-bed lodge to evacuate the building when an earlier alarm was set off by a couch fire.
That fire was eventually put out by residents and CCTV showed Liam Hockings returning to his room, the last time he was seen before the fatal fire was lit only 90 minutes later.
It has been an emotional third week in an arduous case before a jury at the High Court in Wellington. (Source: 1News)
A 111 made by Hockings – when it's believed he was either dying or died shortly after the call – was also played to the court .
The dispatcher on the other end of the line said there was "a lot of coughing" and after a while Hockings became unresponsive.
"It was then suggested by my team to hang up and call [Liam back]," the dispatcher said, "If his phone sound or vibration was on, it could alert any proximate firefighters to his location."
Later when pictures of the burnt out shell of the Loafers Lodge building was shown to the court, a member of the public gallery yelled, "look what you've done".
This trial has been unusual for the extraordinary amounts of CCTV footage available inside the lodge, as well as tracking the defendant through Wellington City.
An hour-long police interview was also shown to jurors this week, where the accused insisted, he did nothing wrong. When confronted with CCTV footage of him lighting the fire he said he was only in the cupboard to look for a blanket to "keep me warm".
Towards the end of the interview, the police asked if there's anything else the accused wanted to say, to which he replied, "I just feel sorry for the victims".
His lawyers were pursuing a defence of insanity and a key point in contention was whether he knew what he did was morally wrong.
The trial is set down for five weeks.
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