Mom Allegedly Ignored Children’s Screams Before 2 Died After House Fire: Reports

A mother in Australia allegedly ignored her young children’s screams on a security camera after leaving them home alone. Her two daughters died, and a son was left hospitalized after a fire broke out, according to reports.

On Sept. 8, 2024 shortly after 9:30 p.m., emergency services responded to a fatal fire at a property in the Victoria suburb of Sydenham, Victoria Police said in a news release on Tuesday, Sept. 16, confirming a 26-year-old woman had been arrested that day in the suburb of Tarneit.

“She was interviewed by police and subsequently charged with two counts of negligent manslaughter and one count of negligently cause serious injury,” the release noted.

“Firefighters entered the home and located a five-year-old girl, then three-year-old boy and a one-year-old girl,” police said of the fire. “All were treated immediately at the scene before being taken to hospital.”

“The two girls subsequently passed away in hospital three days later on 11 September [2024],” the release stated.

On Wednesday, Sept. 17, the woman arrested — identified by outlets including the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and the Australian Associated Press (AAP) as Shania Lee — appeared at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court.

The court was told that Lee and her co-accused Matthew Mcaulliffe allegedly left the property at around 9:17 p.m. on the evening of the fire to collect a second-hand car part, per the AAP. The children were left home alone.

Detective Senior Constable Chris Mitchell said, “At 9.18 and 47 seconds, a smoke alarm is activated before a child can be heard crying,” according to the news agency.

Emergency services arrived at the home at 9:39 p.m., and the three children were found alive, but unconscious, per the outlet. The fire was believed to have started in the master bedroom.

Lee allegedly heard screaming on her home security cameras on her phone, with Mitchell saying in court, “Investigators believe that the referred screaming is in relation to children during the fire,” the AAP reported.

“It’s upsetting and an aggravating circumstance in relation to this offending … exacerbated by the fact that Lee did not call [911] to assist her own children,” he added.

Mitchell alleged that Lee said that it “wasn’t even my fault” that the children died as she wasn’t at home at the time of the fire, stating that she’d set up a camera in the kitchen, per news.com.au.

The detective claimed Lee had allegedly told Mcaulliffe about hearing the screaming while speaking over a recorded prison phone call, according to AAP. 

“But it’s not like I f—— fully just left it, like I had a camera in the kitchen, so I can make sure they didn’t get out of bed or anything like that,” the officer alleged she’d told another man, the news agency reported.

The court was told that the fire may have started before Lee left the property, per the AAP. However, it remains unclear how the blaze began, the ABC noted.

Defense lawyer Sam Norton insisted his client didn’t know how the fire broke out, per the ABC.

Police had an expert examine possible causes of the fire, with the “most likely” being “ignition of a flammable material such as a box of clothing,” the AAP stated. 

Mcaulliffe, thought to have been the last person to enter the master bedroom before the fire, smoked cigarettes. However, he claimed that he did not smoke inside the house. Lee reportedly told police ignition from a cigarette was “unlikely,” the news agency noted.

Australian company Jemena Energy looked for any potential electrical faults that might have caused the blaze, but found no evidence of anything abnormal, per the outlet.

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Lee was granted bail on Wednesday and will reside in the town of Moama with her mother in the Murray region of southern New South Wales, the ABC stated.

Magistrate Michael Smith approved the release on bail, as long as Lee reports to Echuca police in Victoria three days a week, as well as notifying police if she changes address, the AAP stated. She’s set to return to the court on Jan. 15, 2026.

The Melbourne Magistrates’ Court didn’t immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE for additional information, and Victoria Police said they “don’t discuss individuals or comment on cases before the court.”