A revelation the man accused of lighting the deadly Loafers Lodge fire in 2023 had absconded from a hospital in Auckland just weeks earlier

The 50-year-old, with name suppression, is on trial for murder in the High Court at Wellington.

He had been admitted in Auckland due to a relapse in his paranoid schizophrenia, and stopped taking his medication.

A psychiatrist has told the court, he doesn't believe an intended defence of insanity is applicable, despite the man's mental illness.

The man told the psychiatrist he didn't believe five people had died in the fire, and thought Police were setting him up when he was arrested.