A young mother who was doused in petrol and set alight by her own father has vowed to fight for justice for her young son and mother who died in the horrific attack.
Natalie Sands, 30, had moved back in with her parents in Tamworth, in north east NSW, four years ago to save money to make a better life for her two sons.
Her father, Richard, who had recently spent time in a mental health institution, asked his wife to fill a jerry can with petrol so he could mow the lawn.
But at dawn one morning Natalie was awoken by her father kicking down her bedroom door clutching a jerry can in one hand and a red lighter in the other.
Natalie Sands (pictured), 30, had moved back in with her parents in Tamworth, in north east NSW, when her father doused her in petrol and set her alight
He started pouring 10 litres of fuel around the room and on his daughter.
‘I had hold of his shoulders around his neck and I was just driving him backwards, pushing him away from my kids,’ Ms Sands told 60 Minutes.
‘I was screaming at him: ‘Dad, don’t do this! Don’t do this!’ I got two beautiful kids in that room. I said ‘don’t do this’ and he just wouldn’t stop.’
Five times he lit the lighter and Ms Sands was able to blow it out each time.
‘But the sixth time he lit it, as soon as he lit it he pushed it into my chest, and that was it, and it just went whoosh, and the whole house ignited,’ she said.
Her eldest son, who can’t be named for legal reasons, managed to escape the ensuring inferno.
But she was unable to save her five-year-old, Orlando.
‘I can see him. I can see him on the bed, laying there, fast asleep, and it was just like a wave on a beach, but it was a wave of fire,’ Ms Sands told the program.
‘I had to accept that there was nothing I could do.’
Ms Sands suffered burns to 80 per cent of her body. She woke up in hospital a week later to discover her father had bludgeoned her mother to death with a mallet before he lit the blaze.
He later handed himself into police where he confessed to the frenzied attack.
Her five-year-old son Orlando perished in the blaze and her mother was bludgeoned to death before the the fire was lit
Ms Sands suffered burns to 80 per cent of her body
Her father, Richard (pictured), will never stand trial after being found not to be criminally responsible
But he will never face trial after being diagnosed with a neurodegenerative disease and a depressive disorder.
A Supreme Court judge found he was not criminally responsible for the deaths of his wife and grandson.
He was sent to a mental health facility instead of prison and his daughter claims he is already on supervised day release.
‘If someone is that [mentally unwell] that they’ve gone and slaughtered their own family, then why are you letting them out in the street back into the community?’ Ms Sands asked.
She is campaigning for the system to be more supportive of victims.
‘I don’t want this to just end in tragedy and sadness because what’s the point otherwise? If I’m not here fighting, what’s the point?’ she said.
‘I only have two reasons why I’m alive, one is my son, and two is to try and do something better than what’s already happening. It’s a lifetime challenge, but I’m really up for it, I am. I’m not gonna stop.’
