Elderly pensioner died of smoke inhalation: Gang prospects accused of lighting fire to earn patches

Pensioner Ian David Moller was asleep in his bed at his Kāinga Ora flat early on November 5, 2024.

As flames spread to the first floor of the Hanson Grove flats, the 82-year-old’s room filled with smoke from the fire, which the Crown says was deliberately lit in an external storage cupboard below his flat.

It was the third suspicious fire at the block of flats in Stokes Valley in a month, but the only one which had fatal consequences.

In all three cases, the Crown says the people alleged to have committed the arsons made Molotov cocktails, stuffing fabric inside a bottle filled with petrol, before lighting it. All the fires were in the middle of the night.

The Crown says those men were Mangu Kaha gang members Arden Neho, Reardon Kamaru and Henare Barber, who are on trial in the High Court at Wellington charged with arson and Moller’s murder.

Neho also faces two additional charges over earlier fires, which were set on October 10 and 14, 2024, but never took hold.

Neho is sitting outside the dock and has the help of a communications assistant.

A fourth man, Shyheim Aiga, has pleaded guilty in relation to the two earlier fires and will be dealt with separately.

The Crown says the fires took place under the direction of a gang.

Their simple proposition is that Neho, Kamaru and Aiga lit the fires to get their gang patches, under the direction of Barber, a patched Mangu Kaha member.

The first fire was lit in a stairwell, with Neho and Aiga allegedly seen running from the scene by someone at the flats.

The fire service was called to extinguish the fire, which left some charring and burnt paint.

That night, Moller was treated for smoke inhalation, but wasn’t taken to hospital.

Four days later, the pair returned, this time allegedly throwing molotov cocktails at the rear of the building.

Due to heavy rain, they didn’t take hold.

At that point, the Crown says, Aiga claimed to have heart trouble and bowed out of the fatal plan, only to be replaced by Kamaru, who the Crown says was recruited by Barber.

The court heard that on November 5, the night of the final and fatal fire, residents from the two flats in the complex escaped uninjured, while a fourth flat in the block sat vacant.

Moller was taken to Wellington Hospital in a serious and critical condition, suffering from smoke inhalation and burns to his airways.

He was sedated and intubated, but died days later on November 5, 2024.

An autopsy revealed he died from complications of carbon monoxide toxicity, from breathing smoke.

Crown prosecutor Claire Hislop told the jury on the same day as Moller’s death, Neho, Kamaru and Aiga received their patches. The Crown says that was their reward for setting the fires.

After Moller’s death, police launched a homicide investigation – but they faced a problem.

With no witnesses, there were few leads and no suspects.

In her opening address to the jury, Hislop described the long and detailed investigation the police undertook to find out who was responsible.

As part of their investigation, police seized a large number of phones.

Through texts, calls, and polling data, the Crown says it has evidence of the men planning and carrying out the arsons.

Hislop told the jury the group didn’t overtly say what they were going to do. However, when the texts are read in conjunction with other evidence, including CCTV footage, intercepted phone calls and witnesses’ statements, they will be able to establish what happened.

Keep an open mind

At the end of the Crown’s opening today, counsel representing the three defendants made brief opening statements to the jury.

Lawyers for all three urged the jury to keep an open mind until they began their deliberations, and put aside any feelings of prejudice, including towards gangs.

They also urged the jury to be logical and dispassionate when deciding the case.

Neho’s lawyer Sam Campbell told the court that people get caught up in gangs for all sorts of reasons.

He emphasised his client deserved a fair trial and to keep an open mind while hearing the evidence.

Kamaru’s lawyer Marty Robinson told the jury, “whatever you think of them, a patch is not a fingerprint, it doesn’t tie a person to a fire, it doesn’t light a match in their hand or start a fire”.

He said it was hard to stay calm about a case that involved a man’s death and gang patches, but reminded the jury that was where fairness mattered most.

Barber’s lawyer Nicole Mount said her client denied procuring, citing or directing his co-accused to carry out the fires.

The trial before Justice David Boldt is estimated to take five weeks.

Catherine Hutton is an Open Justice reporter, based in Wellington. She has worked as a journalist at the Waikato Times and RNZ. Most recently she was working as a media adviser at the Ministry of Justice.