A fireman told the Nuku'alofa Supreme Court today Thursday June 26 that they found remains of deceased persons at the site of the Shoreline building on November 17, 2006, a day after the riots.

On the eighth day of the jury trial of 'Isileli Pulu and two co-accused on charges related to deaths in the Shoreline building fire, Toni Vahe, a witness for the Crown, told the court that the Fire Department received a report from neighbours that papers were still burning in the parking area of the gutted Shoreline building.

He said they went to Shoreline and put out the fire, but after doing so they saw smoke was still coming out of the building.

"We dragged our fire hoses inside the building and we hosed down the smoke with water to make sure it was properly put out," he said.

The witness said at the same time there was a room inside the building that looked like a storeroom and it was still smoking. There were stacks of burnt phone cards in the room.

Dead body

He said they tried to spread the cards out to properly extinguish the smoke, and while doing so one of his colleagues who was using a stick to poke it, came across a dead body.

"We reported this to our Officer in Charge who reported it to the Fire Chief, we were then instructed to try and tidy the phone cards aside from the body," he added.

The witness said the Fire Chief arrived at the site and contacted the Police Criminal Investigation Unit and reported that a body had been found inside the building.

We then tried to move the remains onto a white sheet of cloth, but as were lifting it up we saw another body underneath, and it looked like they were lying across each other, he said.

The witness clarified to the court, the remains found were not an intact or whole body instead they were in pieces or in parts since they were mostly burnt. The remains were then taken to Vaiola Hospital.

Rescued workers

The witness also recalled on the day of the Shoreline fire, which was on November 16, 2006, he and other firemen were assigned to the Shoreline building when it was reported on fire.

He said he was involved in rescuing some of the Shoreline workers from the first floor of the building by using a ladder.

The witness was also with the firemen who were sent from Shoreline to town to put out a car that was set alight in front of the Pacific Royale Hotel.

Murder charges

People's Representative, 'Isileli Pulu, has pleaded not guilty to charges of abetment to murder and abetment to arson relating to the deaths in the Shoreline building fire during the riots of November 16, 2006, in which he is alleged to have indirectly incited his two co-accused to commit the crimes of murder and arson.

The co-accused, Sosefo 'Amone and Siosiua 'Ulutaufonua are charged with nine counts each of murder and arson endangering life.