31 years old Sarah Mudge was killed in the fire that she believed to have started in the bedroom of her ex-partner Stanley Obi in New Beith in the early hours of Thursday morning.
Stanley received burns to 90 per cent of his body and sadly died from his severe injuries. In a statement police said that Stanley was transported to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital suffering critical burns following the house fire.
Sarah’s body was located inside the buildings but an official proof of identity of her body is underway with a post-mortem to be conducted shortly.
Stanley’s new partner, a woman aged 30, who also lives at the house has suffered burns and is in a grave condition. Three children were also taken to hospital but were uninjured. However, police noted they were reasonably shocked.
Weeks before Sarah Mudge allegedly broke into her ex-partner’s home and set him and his new girlfriend on fire, she has posted a chilling rant to Facebook. Under the heading “Relationship Rules, she wrote, “She’s not toxic bro. You made her like that. Now you think she is crazy. “Your decisions reflect her actions. Check yourself”.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Stanley was a registered nurse and working as a care manager at Aveo, a retirement home operator.
Police Superintendent said that the fire was being investigated as a possible domestic violence crime. The couple was known to police in relation to previous domestic violence incidents. The Police Superintendent said that Police have had contact with the male victim and ex-partner in relation to domestic violence incidents and that will form part of their investigations. He further said that they do believe there were proceedings that had been progressing around the custody of the children.
A neighbour described rushing from his bed to help evacuate the alleged victims from the burning home. The man said that he tried to get everyone out of there through the side of the house and then someone said there’s a lady in there so he tried to go back in but it was too significantly burnt already, he couldn’t get in. The neighbour said Stanley, who is a nurse was pleading for help and saying he thought he was going to die.
The neighbour said that Stanley was giving him his hand, reaching out to him to hold it and he wasn’t going to hold his hand because he know about infection control. The neighbour further said that it was awful and he couldn’t do anything really.
Emergency services were called to the home in New Beith near Logan around 3am on Thursday. They were responding to reports that a home in the area was on fire. By the time authorities arrived at the scene, the suburban house was completely engulfed in flames and the ceiling had collapsed.
At the time, police discovered that the fire was doubtful and may be related to a domestic violence incident.
Stanley and his new partner had been living at the home in New Beith home for about six months. Police have declared the house a crime scene and are investigating.
