A drug addled mum who allegedly left her children to die in a house fire had ignored their screams while watching the house on CCTV as she drove away, a court has heard.
Siblings Izabel, 5, and Lyvia, 2, and their three-year-old brother Kalais were pulled unconscious from the rear of a property in Sydenham in Melbourne’s north-west after neighbours raised the alarm on September 8 last year.
Firefighters rescued the children one-by-one before all three were taken to the Royal Children’s Hospital.
Tragically, Izabel and Lyvia died in hospital, while Kalais was put in an induced coma and survived – another child was not home.
On Thursday, their mother Shania Lee, 25, of Tarneit in Melbourne’s west, was bailed from the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court back into the community despite police concerns.
The court heard she faces two counts of negligent manslaughter and one count of negligently cause serious injury.
In opposing bail, Detective Senior Constable Christopher Mitchell told the court he believed Lee knew the house was on fire when she left that night.
The court heard Lee’s Fergus Street rental burst into flames about 9.18pm – a little over two minutes after she and her lover Matthew McAuliffe, 23, were observed leaving the property alone.
Shania Lee, 25, is accused of leaving her three children to die in a house fire
Arson Squad experts believe the fire could have started in the couple’s master bedroom before they even left the property.
‘Police believe that the fire was going when they left,’ Senior Constable Mitchell told the court.
Detectives allege Lee had been caught on prison phones discussing the alleged crime with her lover while he was locked-up in February.
‘McAuliffe accuses Lee of watching the cameras on the night of the incident, hearing screaming,’ Senior Constable Mitchell said.
‘Lee admits that she watched the cameras at the at the last minute and informed her mother … Investigators believe that the referred screaming is in relation to the children during the fire.
‘Investigators also believe that McAuliffe and Lee are both discussing viewing the footage, utilising a phone application on Lee’s mobile.’
In opposing bail, the police officer condemned Lee for allegedly failing to act upon hearing those screams.
‘It’s upsetting and an aggravating circumstance in relation to this offending, Your Honor, exacerbated by the fact that Lee did not call 000 to assist her own children,’ he said.
Shania Lee is accused of abandoning her children to die
Little Kalais, 3, was placed in an induced coma after a devastating house fire that killed his two siblings. The toddler survived
Jayde Petalas (left) – father of Izabel and Kalais (pictured) – had been estranged from Lee
Appearing in court via videolink from the Melbourne West Custody Centre, Lee was seen sobbing throughout the hearing.
The court heard the children had been put to bed between 8.30-9pm that night, with McAuliffe – a smoker – heading to the bedroom before leaving and shutting the door behind him.
Police allege the couple left the children alone to drive to the Sunshine area to ‘steal a car door’ for Lee’s Jeep.
‘They returned to the incident location approximately 20 to 30 minutes after leaving and observed emergency services at the address,’ the detective said.
The court heard Lee was uncooperative with police and had refused to make a statement.
‘Police hold contemporary intelligence that suggests that Lee is currently consuming drugs such as codeine and MDMA,’ Senior Constable Mitchell said.
Top Melbourne lawyer Sam Norton, who famously defended wife killer Borce Ristevski, said police had no way of knowing whether his client knew the fire was alight when she left the property.
‘And If we put it in these terms, a person in her circumstances would not have known that it was likely that that house was going to burn down,’ he said.
Neighbours said they heard explosions before and during the fire that raged for half an hour while the children were inside
Police brought in arson and explosives experts to investigate what started the blaze
‘With the evidence available, I can’t disagree,’ the detective conceded. ‘However, we believe that she knew.’
The court heard Lee had prior convictions for failing to appear in court while on bail and committing indictable offences on bail.
Police raised further concerns about her ongoing drug use and fears she had access to an illegal firearm.
She also has further outstanding charges related to an alleged aggravated burglary, theft, and obtaining property by deception.
However, the magistrate granted Lee bail on the condition she live with her mum in Moama – on the New South Wales border – and report to Echuca police station three times weekly.
She will return to court next year.
The family had only moved into the property a week before the blaze.
The children were trapped inside for about half an hour, according to neighbours.
Shania Lee (right) is accused of abandoning her children to die
A dog was carried out of the backyard by a firefighter. It appeared uninjured and is believed to have fled the fire and returned home later
Forensic police were seen combing through debris outside the home after they joined fire investigators and Victoria Police’s Arson Squad at the scene
‘When I first came out a few of us heard screaming,’ an unnamed resident recalled at the time.
Adolf Kolaritsch added: ‘Just explosions, that’s all it was and then fire shooting out into the air.
Another said it was heartbreaking to hear that the children were ‘fighting for their lives’.
