Murray Olds: Australian correspondent on a Sydney father being charged with murder for deadly house fire

A father in Sydney has been charged with murder for allegedly setting the house fire that killed three of his children.

Two boys, aged two and six, and a five-month-old baby girl died in their Lalor Park family home last Sunday.

The man allegedly blocked the children from leaving the home as it burned, stopping them from running to safety.

Australian correspondent Murray Olds says the man was charged with three counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder after coming out of an induced coma.

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Murray olds AUSSI correspondents with us. Now muz haffnoond you
have a graham Man. So this guy's been charged with murder?

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Has he three counts of murder relating to three of
his children.

Speaker 3 (00:09):
This is the twenty eight year old fellow who police
alleged set fire to the family home early last Sunday
morning about habas Won. Three children died in the fire,
two little boys two and six, and a five month
old girl. The allegation, of course, is that he tried
to stop neighbors and first responders getting into the home

(00:30):
and saving people. Anyway, his wife got out, so did
four other children. His wife's now been discharged from hospital.
The four children remain in the West Meat Children's Hospital.
The father, as I said, he's twenty eight. He now well,
he remains in hospital. But he was obviously in that
induced coma. He came out of that, and he's now

(00:51):
been charged with these three murders and five counts of
attempted murder.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
There was no appearance.

Speaker 3 (00:57):
Today and obviously reminded in custody and that'll be back
up in a couple of three months time.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
And still no explanation for why he did it.

Speaker 3 (01:05):
No, you know, obviously police getting a brief of evidence
together to present the court when he's up next.

Speaker 1 (01:11):
Yeah, okay, that Alice Springs curfew's ended, right, there's no
decision to extend it.

Speaker 3 (01:16):
No decision to extend it. That did expire. The seventy
two hour curf you expired this morning. And the governments
that have had a meeting this morning and said, you
know what is not a good idea The town is
full of It's an annual migration into Alice Springs from
a lot of people who live remotely and I'm talking
very remotely, and a lot of people come and to
see family and so on. But what that does, of course,

(01:39):
is according to authorities, is create all sorts of issues
when families get together.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
You know what Christmas can be like with a pain
of the bump with Uncle Bill and he.

Speaker 3 (01:46):
Gets full of the state school hat rack and says
inappropriate stuff. Well, that's what's happening in Alice Springs and
people are settling grievances and having fights and so on.
So what the government has said, guess what, We're not
going to extend it.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
What we're going to do is have the police are going.

Speaker 3 (02:03):
Northern Territory police and other springs are going to be
leading like a multi agency response to this. One of
the most exciting your sounding things is because there's two
hundred and fifty million dollars been set aside with the
federal government to help set up programs that are that
are actually.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
Going to work.

Speaker 3 (02:20):
And one of these is a program that enrolls Indigenous
children and young adults sixteen to twenty four.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
It's a two year program. They have a place to.

Speaker 3 (02:29):
Stay in a sort of a boarding school, setup, education, training,
and ultimately employment. If you get a few things like
that going and turn some of the young people onto
that they won't be out drinking and punching on.

Speaker 2 (02:41):
So, yeah, that's how that works, Marz.

Speaker 1 (02:43):
Listen, this business about the picassos at Hobart not actually
being pocasos. Is this a controversy or.

Speaker 3 (02:49):
Not well to the extent that people around the world
have been now talking about it, like I suppose it is.

Speaker 2 (02:55):
I mean, this is a I.

Speaker 3 (02:57):
Mean the couple who own Mona, this is a magnificent
gallery just up the river from Hobart about fifteen to
twenty minute ferry right, and you're there, and it is
apparently I've not been there. My wife's been there a
couple of times. I've not been there, but it is
the most amazing gallery. And yes, they had two picassas
on display for the last four years. But the wife

(03:19):
of the museum owner has revealed today on social media
she actually paid to them herself. Her name is Kershakcelli.
She used social media to out herself. She couldn't get
picassos to show in the museum. The cost of insurance
alone would be too much, so she and her girlfriend said, buggaret,
let's do some ourselves, and they have. The only way

(03:40):
it's come to light is because a fellow of these
two fake, fake picassos were hanging in the ladies lounge.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
Well, Sydney Man was down there at Oi. How can
I cartgement of the ladies lounge? It's discrimination.

Speaker 3 (03:54):
So he's gone to the legal Assistem in Tasmania alleging
he's been district dominated against the lower court found yes
he has. It's now being appealed by the gallery owner
and his wife. And as part of this process she's
come out and said this and by the way, they're
not real picassos. But she's still insisting only women can

(04:15):
see them because there's a nude and there's a luncheon
on a rug, and so she's hanging them both in
the ladies loop.

Speaker 2 (04:23):
So look it is.

Speaker 3 (04:25):
It is a bit of a tongue in cheek, a
protest by this woman, I suppose, but certainly, look, it's
made a lot of headlines over here, and a lot
of people think this museum, that this art gallery, I
beg your parden is really the Dutch nuts are just
as fantastic.

Speaker 1 (04:40):
Maz but are you telling me that this whole controversy
about the Picasso's, there were only two Picassos and neither
of them.

Speaker 2 (04:46):
Are real, not the pocastos real.

Speaker 1 (04:48):
She went down to two Picassos.

Speaker 3 (04:51):
Well, there was one that was Apparently she's up in
Paris this year. She's gone to an art exhibition in Paris.
Sure enough, there's one of the Picasso's that she copied
and she reckons hers is better. So to the extene, Look,
I don't know two Picassos. She went to Bunning's, got

(05:11):
a six inch paintbrush and went back home and knocked
these two up and make the world's been believing up.

Speaker 2 (05:17):
Yeah, Picasso, So whatever, males.

Speaker 1 (05:20):
Thank you very much. Crazy Things, Murray Old's Australia corresponding.
For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive, Listen live to
news talks it'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio