Three children perished in the fire: a six-year-old boy, a two-year-old boy, and a five-month-old female. Together with their mother, three boys and one girl, ages four to eleven, made it out alive.
In addition to one crime of harming property with the purpose of endangering life, the 28-year-old man is charged with three counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder. He’s still in the hospital, under police watch.
According to the police, the father ignited the fire early on Sunday morning.
He appeared in a local Sydney court on Thursday with legal representation and made no request for bail. He then obstructed attempts at rescue.
After the incident, New South Wales Detective Sergeant Daniel Doherty addressed the media, describing it as “one of the worst cases of filicide”—the deliberate killing of a kid by a parent—that has happened in the state.
According to him, the father set fire to every room in the house using an “accelerant,” like gasoline, and then locked all the doors to keep his family from fleeing.
They also plan to make the claim that he interfered with the first responders’ and worried neighbors’ attempts to save the four surviving children and their mother from the blazing house.
