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Two terrified teenage girls watched in horror as their neighbour was bludgeoned with a spade and set on fire - and say the man accused of his murder calmly sat down and watched him burn on the front lawn.
Colin Edward Moyle, 55, was killed in the Auckland suburb of Sandringham on Friday night. Police have arrested and charged a 32-year-old man, a known associate, with murder.
Dressed in a white boiler suit, with a shaven head and heavily tattooed arms, the accused appeared in Auckland District Court yesterday and was granted interim name suppression until he reappears in court tomorrow.
Twin sisters Michelle and Chanelle Egelani, 15, were at their home, directly opposite the victim's house, when they heard Moyle's screams.
"I could hear the sound of metal hitting something," Michelle told the Herald on Sunday.
The sisters ran to the window to see their badly beaten neighbour lying motionless on the lawn next to his letterbox.
A second man disappeared inside the house before returning seconds later with a light yellow, plastic bowl.
The girls watched in horror as the man calmly poured liquid in the bowl, before tipping it all over the victim.
"Then he just set him on fire," said Michelle, describing how flames engulfing the man's arm quickly spread. "He wasn't screaming any more."
The girls said before the flames had completely taken hold of the man's body, they saw the alleged offender pick him up and throw him to the ground, before retreating to the front steps of the house, where he sat down and watched as the man's body burnt for several minutes.
"After he lit him he looked like he didn't really care," Michelle said. "He was just looking blankly at the body."
No one immediately rushed to help the burning man, the twins said. "They would have been too scared."
The police arrived minutes later and put out the fire, the girls said, which smelt like "something really bad" - like nothing they could describe.
Only when the police arrived did the alleged offender make a feeble attempt to escape through the house, Chantelle said.
The twins' mother Migao said they were traumatised by what they saw, and had asked their mother if they could move.
She described seeing the victim alive and well at around 3pm, less than two hours before the incident.
He was watching another man mow the front lawn. The men later drove off together, she said.
Then minutes later, Miago saw a different, "skinny man" wearing army shorts and jacket and a hat squeezing through a broken window in the front door of the victim's house. She thought this strange but decided to ignore it.
There had often been fighting, noise and trouble since the victim took up residence there about three months ago, she said.
The Herald on Sunday has also learned that the parents of the accused man live on the same street, and that the accused's brother lives nearby.
Family members declined to comment yesterday but police confirmed that Moyle and the accused were "social acquaintances".
Detective Inspector Bernie Hollewand said the alleged offender broke into the house when Moyle was away on Friday afternoon.
He said when the victim returned the offender attacked him in the doorway and threw boiling water at him. The victim ran out of the house but the offender followed and hit the victim a number of times with a spade.
Detective Inspector Bernie Hollewand said the alleged offender broke into the house when the deceased man was away yesterday afternoon.
He said when Mr Moyle returned the offender attacked him in the doorway and threw boiling water at him. The victim ran out of the house but the offender followed and hit the victim a number of times with a spade. "The offender then splashed a flammable liquid on to the deceased and ignited it." Mr Hollewand said.
Neither Miago nor her daughters had ever spoken to their neighbour, who lived alone.
Other neighbours described disturbing incidents involving the neighbour and in the weeks leading up to his murder. One woman saw Moyle walking down the street with blood all over his arm. A car window had been smashed nearby.
- Additional reporting Nicola Shepheard and NZPA
