A young mother in Australia has been charged after allegedly leaving her three children home alone the night a fire tore through their house. Two little girls later died and their brother remains in the hospital.
The tragedy happened on the evening of 8 September in Sydenham, a suburb of Victoria. Emergency services rushed to the property just after 9.30 p.m. and pulled a five-year-old girl, a three-year-old boy, and a one-year-old girl from the burning home. All three were treated at the scene and taken to the hospital, but heartbreakingly, the two girls died days later on 11 September.
On 16 September, police confirmed they had arrested a 26-year-old woman. She was interviewed and later charged with two counts of negligent manslaughter and one count of causing serious injury by negligence. She has since been identified by Australian media including ABC and AAP as Shania Lee.
Lee appeared in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on 17 September alongside co-accused Matthew Mcaulliffe. The court heard the pair allegedly left the house at around 9.17 p.m. that night to pick up a second-hand car part, leaving the children alone. Detective Senior Constable Chris Mitchell told the hearing that just a minute later, a smoke alarm went off. Seconds after that, a child’s cries could be heard.
Fire crews arrived at 9.39 p.m. to find the children unconscious but alive. The blaze is thought to have started in the master bedroom, though the exact cause is still under investigation.
Detective Mitchell told the court Lee had access to a security camera feed on her phone and allegedly heard screaming during the fire. “Investigators believe that the referred screaming is in relation to children during the fire,” he said. He added that Lee did not call emergency services, describing it as “an aggravating circumstance in relation to this offending.”
According to reports, Lee later claimed it “wasn’t even my fault” as she wasn’t at home when the fire began. On a prison phone call, she allegedly told McAulliffe she had set up the camera in the kitchen to make sure the children stayed in bed, saying, “But it’s not like I f—— fully just left it, like I had a camera in the kitchen.”
The court also heard that the blaze may have started before Lee and McAulliffe left the house. Detectives believe it was most likely caused by the ignition of flammable material, such as a box of clothes. McAulliffe, who was said to be the last person in the bedroom, was a smoker but denied lighting cigarettes inside. Lee also told police she thought a cigarette was “unlikely” to have started it.
Investigators brought in energy company Jemena to check whether an electrical fault was to blame, but no issues were found.
Lee’s lawyer, Sam Norton, argued in court that his client did not know how the fire started. Both she and McAulliffe remain under investigation as the community struggles to come to terms with the devastating loss of two young lives.
