ALBAWABA - Australian police are investigating what appears to be multiple homicides after finding the bodies of three children while their father was taken into custody as a suspect.
Two boys, ages two and four, were brought to Westmead Hospital in severe condition but died shortly after. The body of the third child, a 10-month-old girl, was discovered after Fire and Rescue NSW doused the blaze.
At 1 a.m. on Sunday, emergency services were called to the residence in Lalor Park, which, according to acting Superintendent Jason Pietruszka, was "engulfed by flames" when officers arrived.
The circumstances were described as "incredibly tragic" by Detective Sergeant Danny Doherty. He said that a 28-year-old guy arrested at the site tried to stop police and rescue personnel from rescuing individuals inside the house. Police verified that the man was the deceased children's father.
"We’ve seen three young lives taken away in the most tragic of circumstances and it’s quite unimaginable how the family are coping with this at the moment. They will get the proper support in relation to this terrible matter," Doherty stated.
Doherty stated that while the investigation was still ongoing, "at this stage, it does appear that the 28-year-old man is responsible for multiple deaths of young lives that have been tragically taken away".
The father, who was taken into custody on the spot, was treated for smoke inhalation and sent to the hospital under police guard. He is in an induced coma. According to police, a neighbor sought to assist and was "quite heroic in what they did," preventing additional deaths.
Doherty described the circumstances of the occurrence as "really extraordinary," but admitted a "spate" of suspected domestic violence-related fatalities in recent years.
