Later Iopata was to claim they had been waiting for a UFO to pick them up and take them to Australia.
The firemen charged with battling the blaze had to find a blanket so the two could be made relatively decent but the odd scene was to become far more bizarre when they made their way inside.
There they found what at first was thought could be the backbone of a dead dog, but was soon found to be human remains.
It was later to be revealed the remains were those of Huia Tawhai's elderly husband Lou, and that he had been subjected to unspeakable indignities, including being doused with boiling water and castrated.
After he died he was dismembered, and his head thrust into the firebox of a woodburner.
Some hours later the house was deliberately set ablaze.
Three were originally arrested for the murder of Mr Tawhai, being his wife Huia, her lover, and a sometimes boarder at the home, Jay Sankaran.
Sankaran was to escape prosecution, becoming a leading witness for the prosecution and describing the involved sequence of events and torture that contributed to the agonising death of the 79-year-old man.
He told a tale of physical abuse, of evil spirits, of sexual touching and sex - all carried out as Lou Tawhai was being tortured by one means or another before finally slumping and dying.
Huia Tawhai and Iopata both denied murdering Lou Tawhai, and a marathon trial began in Wellington High Court.
The jury heard evidence that in the late morning of August 14, hours before the fiery discovery of his remains inside the house, a foul- smelling fire had been lit on the property.
When it had died down a dog was seen pawing through the ashes, at one time picking something out and tossing it into the air with its teeth.
Witnesses told of seeing a woman in the kitchen chopping or sawing something up at the bench.
In her defence Huia Tawhai said she had followed along with whatever Iopata had wanted her to do.
She described at length the actions of Iopata torturing Lou Tawhai that had led directly to his death, and saying it had been Iopata who dismembered her husband after he had died.
Huia Tawhai was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to seven years jail.
Evidence was given by a forensic psychiatrist that Iopata was a very severe schizophrenic with a very low IQ.
He would have been incapable of knowing that what he was doing was morally wrong, and believed his actions would result in lifting a curse from Lou Tawhai, as an act of mercy.
Iopata was found not guilty of murder on the grounds of insanity and directed to be taken to a secure unit at Porirua Hospital.
