A mother who allegedly left her children to die in a Melbourne house fire has been tracked down living in a tiny town on the NSW-Victoria border.
Shania Lee, 25, of Tarneit in Melbourne’s west, is accused of ignoring her children’s screams while watching the house on CCTV as she drove away, a court heard last week.
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 Wednesday, Lee refused to comment about the allegations when confronted by the Daily Mail outside Echuca Police Station, where she has to report for bail three times a week.
Lee told a Daily Mail reporter to ‘f*** off’ as she made her way back to a car being driven by her mother, Lynn Hawkett.
Ms Hawkett, who was still wearing her Murray River Council uniform, also refused to answer questions, firing off some expletives of her own as she sped away.
Shania Lee declined to discuss allegations she neglected her children and left them to die in a house fire
Shania Lee is accused of abandoning her children to die. She does not look like this anymore
Neighbours reported hearing explosions before and during the fire, which raged for half an hour with the children trapped inside
Lee had been bailed from Melbourne Magistrates’ Court back into the community despite police concerns she would reoffend or not comply with her bail conditions.
She is now based in Moama, about 250km north-west of Melbourne, near the border of New South Wales and Victoria.
Situated about 3km from the Echuca Police Station, Lee waited all day to report in for bail so her mother could drive her the short trip.
Dressed in thongs and a brown hoodie, Lee looked nothing like the fresh-faced youth splashed across her social media pages.
She appeared gaunt and heavily tattooed as she crossed the bridge with her irate mother.
Lee will remain in the river town until her next court appearance in January.
She will be joined there by her then-partner Matthew McAuliffe, 23, who was also charged this week over the house fire
They both face two counts of negligent manslaughter and one count of negligently causing serious injury.
Shania Lee makes her way out of the Echuca Police Station on Wednesday
Lee (right) and her mum Lynn Hawkett (left) declined to discuss the allegations when approached by the Daily Mail
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 family had only moved into the Fergus Street rental the week before it burst into flames about 9.18pm – a little over two minutes after she and McAuliffe were seen leaving the property alone.
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.
The children were trapped inside for about half an hour, according to neighbours.
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 she watched the cameras at the last minute and informed her mother. Investigators believe the referred screaming is in relation to the children during the fire.
Shania Lee, 25, is accused of leaving her three children to die in a house fire
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
‘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, exacerbated by the fact Lee did not call 000 to assist her own children,’ he said.
Appearing in court via video link 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 brought in arson and explosives experts to investigate what started the blaze
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
‘Police hold contemporary intelligence that suggests that Lee is currently consuming drugs such as codeine and MDMA,’ Senior Constable Mitchell said.
Lee’s defence lawyer Sam Norton 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.
‘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.
The magistrate granted Lee bail on the condition she live with her mother in Moama.
