Brother of one of New Zealand's most successful tennis players feared missing after fatal fire

Friday, 19 May 2023

Barrister Melvin Parun, seen here playing tennis in 1971, is feared missing after the fatal fire.

The brother of one of New Zealand’s most successful tennis players is feared missing following the deadly Loafer’s Lodge fire.

Family members of former barrister and opponent of the New Zealand legal system, Melvin Parun, declined to comment and referred Stuff to police on Friday.

However, associates have been told he’s feared missing.

Police said they were still the process of identifying who was in the building when the fire broke out at the Wellington hostel about 12.25am on Tuesday, and were unable to confirm if Parun was among those unaccounted for.

Parun’s brother Onny, 76, was a Wimbledon quarter finalist for two consecutive years in 1971-72 and was in the world’s top 20 tennis players for five years.

Melvin Parun (front) had a background in challenging the judicial system.

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Anthony Harris explains how he and fellow residents escaped from the third floor of the Loafers Lodge.

He made the final of the Australian Open and was a United States Open quarter finalist in 1973 and in 1975 he reached the French Open quarter-finals.

Just the second player from New Zealand to reach a Grand Slam Singles final, Parun also became the second player to win a Grand Slam Doubles title.

Onny Parun playing for his sixth national title in 1982.

He went on to defeat world number one Jimmy Connors in 1974 and ended his golden run at the top. Parun was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to tennis.

Another brother, Tony also played at Wimbledon and was a member of New Zealand’s Davis Cup team during the 1970s.

As a barrister, Melvin Parun, who is of Croatian descent, was critical of several aspects of New Zealand’s judicial system and teamed up with colleague Kenneth Bulmer on several occasions to appeal for change.

In 1999 the pair petitioned the Queen and British Prime Minister Tony Blair asking them to remove some judges from the Privy Council. Both alleged between 1991 and 1998 the High Court judges they wanted to be removed were unlawfully present for 87 cases in the Court of Appeal.

Work continues to recover the bodies at the fatal fire.

But at a Court of Appeal hearing in 1998 it was ruled that a prohibition order, excluding the judges from the Privy Council could not be made - leading the pair to unsuccessfully petition the Queen.

Three years later the pair went to the United Nations Human Rights Committee where they alleged a Wellington District Court registrar was allocating criminal legal aid to lawyers in an unreasonable and unlawful way.

They further claimed all New Zealand courts were biassed against the pair, so they couldn’t pursue remedies to the problem in the domestic courts, but the committee disagreed with their claims.

Liam Hockings, 50, also hasn’t been heard from by his family since the blaze broke out at Loafers Lodge.

The brother of BBC presenter and journalist Lucy Hockings was a University friend of Prime Minister Chris Hipkins who said his heart went out to the Hockings family.

'My thoughts are with Liam's family and his extended family. I haven't seen a lot of him in recent years, although I have run into him at various events around the place.”

Hipkins said Hockings was 'a bit of a character and certainly someone who I knew … to be a very sincere person”.

“Although we haven’t maintained an ongoing connection, naturally his family will be extremely concerned, and my heart goes out to them, and to the other families and friends who will be very anxious.”

Five people have been confirmed dead following the blaze and a man, aged in his late 40s, has been arrested on two counts of arson.

Police, who have launched a homicide investigation, have not ruled out laying more serious charges against the man.

They are yet to release any details about the victims, with Chief Coroner Judge Anna Tutton saying the identification of bodies could be a painstaking, slow, complex process that would take time.

On Friday, a police spokesperson said: “The process for identifying both those who were in the building at the time, and those who are deceased, is complex and ongoing.”

“As such, we are not yet in a position to confirm whether or not specific individuals are part of our inquiries.”

The spokesperson said “some people may have left the building on the night and have not made contact with Police, social agencies, or family members”.

Police were liaising “a number of families in relation to their family members”.