A man who lit a fatal New Zealand boarding house blaze has been found guilty of five counts of murder, and guilty of one count of arson.

The jury at the High Court in Wellington reached the verdicts against Esarona David Lologa after less than three days of deliberations, rejecting the defence of insanity argued by Lologa's lawyers.

Lologa, 50, had been granted name suppression throughout the five-week trial, but the order was lifted when he was convicted.

Prosecutors accepted Lologa had schizophrenia when he twice set fires inside the 92-bed Loafers Lodge hostel in Wellington over one night in May 2023.

They said he lit the fatal blaze not because of his mental illness but because he wanted to seek a transfer to other accommodation.

Lologa's lawyers didn't deny their client lit the f

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