Father dragged children into fatal inferno, fought off rescuers: police
Police suspect a father set fire to his Sydney home and fought off neighbours and police, dragging his own children back into the inferno, in a horrific “domestic homicide” that claimed three young lives.
“Leave me here to die,” the accused killer allegedly screamed out while one of the surviving children told rescuers “dad tried to kill us”, sources close to the case and at the scene have revealed.
Emergency services rushed to Freeman Street in Lalor Park following reports of a house on fire at 1am on Sunday morning.
The horrific fire claimed the lives of a 10-month-old baby and two boys, aged two and five.
A nine-year-old girl and three boys, aged six, seven and 11, were taken to Westmead Hospital in a stable condition.
Police are investigating whether the father had attacked his defacto partner before lighting the house ablaze and trapping the family inside – one of the older children is believed to have tried to save their siblings from the flames.
The father allegedly attacked the child, who is still in primary school.
“Dad tried to kill us,” the child said, according to sources.
The scene at Lalor Park on Sunday morning, and the couple who lived in the house.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos, Supplied
Neighbours, first on the scene, bravely rushed in to try to save the occupants from the burning home but the 28-year-old man allegedly fought them off as well.
Police arrived and said the man “frustrated” their attempts to get inside.
“I can confirm during police attempts to get into the property, those efforts were frustrated by a male inside,” Acting Superintendent Jason Pietruszka told reporters.
Neighbours and police sources claim the man allegedly tried to drag the children back inside as rescuers tried to pull them from the flames.
Witnesses told police they heard the man screaming “leave me here to die”.
Firefighters only found the body of a third child, a 10-month-old girl, after extinguishing the blaze.
A silver people-mover van, the type favoured by large families, sat in the driveway behind police tape at the home.Credit: TNV
The man was detained at the scene and rushed to hospital with burns and smoke inhalation. He remains in an induced coma.
“It does appear that the 28-year-old man is responsible for multiple deaths of young lives that have been tragically taken away,” homicide squad commander Danny Doherty told reporters.
“There are people, family and friends of the people and the victims who are grieving right at this stage.”
The children are yet to be formally identified and the mother of the children was taken to hospital for smoke inhalation.
The scene at Lalor Park early on Sunday morning.Credit: TNV
“It’s completely and utterly devastating for people that know the family, that go to school with the other children that live within there,” Pietruszka said.
“It’s a close-knit community. They know each other, they see each other regularly. “This will have a long-lasting impact.”
A local told this masthead that he had spent time with the alleged killer late last week and noticed he seemed emotional and angry.
“He seemed down, not his usual happy self,” the man said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
The couple at the centre of the tragedy had been fighting, he added, but it was beyond shocking to think it would end with three dead.
Police confirmed the accused man has no notable criminal history, no apprehended violence orders and no ongoing court matters.
But, police sources said, officers had visited the home for a “welfare check” just last week.
The family had instructed police they were fine, and did not need any assistance.
‘I would have bolted across’One neighbour said he raced outside after his elderly father saw the home up engulfed in flames.
“I’m assuming it wasn’t in the roof because it was just coming out the front window,” a neighbour said recalling the blaze.
The firefighters “didn’t muck around”, the neighbour said, but it appeared to just be a house fire and he didn’t realise there were children trapped inside.
Fire and police investigators at the brick home on Freeman Avenue.Credit: TNV
“I’m just a bit shocked now that I ... I just found out about the kids, you know?” he said. “I wouldn’t have stood around like an idiot, I would have bolted across there.”
‘A complete shock’Others at the scene recalled the man who is now under arrest walking his children toward the school.
“It’s a shock, a complete shock, particularly for anyone with kids,” one local said.
The brick home on Freeman Avenue was crawling with gas-masked investigators from police and NSW Fire and Rescue on Sunday morning.
Both windows of the home looking out over the street, and the front door, were blown open revealing an interior completely gutted and blackened by fire.
A silver people-mover van, the type favoured by large families, sat in the driveway behind police tape.
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