Witnesses claim two alleged members of a white supremacist group charged with a racially motivated assault set fire to a Filipino man they saw sleeping on a discarded couch, CBC News has learned.

According to information police used to obtain a search warrant, Alistair Miller and Robertson de Chazal were partying in an upstairs apartment on Commercial Drive in East Vancouver on Oct. 10, 2009, when they spotted a man asleep on a sofa outside the building.

One witness claims hearing one of them say, "Let’s go light him on fire," the document says.

Police investigate the scene in October 2009 where a man was assaulted and burned while lying on a discarded couch. (CBC)

Another witness claims to have seen Miller “pour the kerosene on the man and then saw de Chazal light him on fire," according to the document.

That's when a black man driving by stopped and intervened.

According to the document, a witness said the two accused then attacked the Good Samaritan and shouted a racial slur at him.

Police contend the two accused eventually fled the scene, leaving the victim with burns to his chest, head and arm. He was treated in hospital and released.

Charges were laid against Miller, 20, and de Chazal, 25, in December.

A lawyer for the two men appeared in court Monday, when a judge scheduled another appearance for Feb. 13.

De Chazal is also facing charges related to an assault on a black man. He is alleged to have carried out that attack with Shawn MacDonald, 39, who was charged earlier for separate assaults on a black man, a Hispanic man and an aboriginal woman.

None of the charges have been proven in court.

Miller, de Chazal and MacDonald are believed to have ties with an internationally recognized hate group known in B.C. as Blood and Honour, police said.

With files from the CBC's Natalie Clancy