“They had nowhere to go”: Mum, partner and baby perish in deliberate house fire
A woman has been charged with murder and arson over a house fire that killed a “young, happy” couple and their newborn baby in Melbourne.
Abbey Forrest and her partner Inderpal Singh and their three-week-old daughter Ivy were found dead in their Point Cook townhouse after it went up in flames in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Arson and Explosives Squad detectives arrested 46-year-old Jenny Hayes at Airport West on Thursday morning.
She has been charged with three counts each of murder and arson causing death.
The incident appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates Court for a brief moment, but Ms Hayes was not present on the video link over which the hearing took place.
Her lawyer, Erin Byrt says Ms Hayes was at at Richmond Police Station.
The court was told she was in a “poor” state while in custody.
She is on two different types of medication and will be assessed for pain management.
While it is unknown what Ms Hayes’ relationships as to the family, Police previously said that it’s believed she was known to one of the occupants of the property.
“Police are not looking for anyone else in relation to the matter,” they said.
Ms Hayes was remanded into custody and will next appear in court on March 1, 2021.
Neighbour Jade Bartolo was one of the first people on the scene as she revealed she was waiting for her partner to get home from work when she heard someone screaming “fire”.
She rushed to the front door but couldn’t get in so she went and grabbed an axe from her shed.
“Then we saw someone up at the top window, we saw someone screaming for help,” Ms Bartolo said.
“They were trying to half hang out the window and then my partner rocked up and he started throwing the axe at the window, trying to break it for them to get out.
“It happened in about four minutes. There was no smoke and then it was just black, the whole room.”
But after throwing the axe about five times, Ms Bartolo’s neighbour Jemil grabbed an object from the garden bed and was able to break the window.
“By the time we actually broke the window they didn’t hear a response from whoever was up there,” Ms Bartolo said.
“We saw their arms, like half their body hanging out the window trying to get out the window but they couldn’t.
“Then they fell back in and my partner said he heard them kind of take a breath and then drop to the floor. That’s the last we heard.”
Ms Bartolo said it was “horrifying” to see the couple unable to escape.
“It was pretty sad to see and hear them trying to get help and we couldn’t get them down. We did the best we could,” she said.
“They were saying ‘help, help’. That’s all I can hear in my head right now, just them screaming for help. I can’t forget it.
“They were responding at the start for like the first two minutes and then it was just black, the whole room. It was pretty terrifying.
“I’ve never seen anything happen that fast and go through nearly three houses.”
Ms Bartolo said there was no way the family could have escaped through the front if the fire was at the bottom of the house.
“It scares the s*** out of me, knowing they were desperate and you can’t get out. They had nowhere to go. There’s only four windows upstairs. I have my own house and live upstairs myself.”