A guy was captured on camera approaching neighbours as he emerged from the backyard of a Warnbro house in Perth’s south while holding a three-year-old girl as the fire spread throughout the house.
Police arrived minutes after the fire broke out on Friday shortly before one in the morning and hurried to the flaming house on Currie Street.
mother of four Police located Erica Hay’s lifeless body in the bedroom at the back of the house. She was thirty years old.
“He was yelling out ‘fire’ and I can hear the smoke alarms going off so we came out, saw him holding the little girl, went over to talk to him and he was coughing,” Michelle, a neighbour, said.
“He said he wasn’t sure … if she was in there or anyone was in the house.”
While forensic and homicide detectives put up a tent in the backyard to gather evidence, arson squad investigators spent the day looking into the fire.
David Gorton of WA Police stated, “To first responders and emergency services, a very confronting scene for them.”
After being observed leaving the house with a child, the 35-year-old guy was admitted to Rockingham Hospital due to smoke inhalation.
The individual is being held by the police. The young girl’s health is stable.
In 2021, her mother had given birth to her 14 weeks early.
After a year, Hay was having financial difficulties and made a request for assistance from the community.
“I’m a mother of four girls and in deep need of some help, our fridge is bare, our cupboards are bare and our bank accounts are at zero,” a post on Facebook stated.
The girls are currently coping with the loss of their mother.
