A woman in Australia has been arrested following the deaths of two young girls. Shania Lee allegedly left her two girls and their brother in her home one night, and minutes after she left, a fire broke out there. The three young children were trapped in the home, and Lee reportedly told people she heard their screams as the flames spread.
She had reportedly installed a camera in her home that captured the heartbreaking footage, but she allegedly didn’t call for help during the fire. Now, she’s saying none of it was her fault.
On September 8, 2024, emergency services were called to a fire at a home around 9:30 p.m., Victoria Police shared in a news release. When firefighters entered the home, they found a 5-year-old girl, a 3-year-old boy, and a 1-year-old girl. The children were alive and treated at the scene before being taken to the hospital. Sadly, both girls died in the hospital three days later.
On September 16, 2025, Lee, 26, was finally arrested and interviewed by police in relation to the fire. As a result, she has been charged with two counts of negligent manslaughter and one count of negligence causing serious injury, the news release noted.
The next day, the woman had her first day in court, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported. Prosecutors said Lee left the home at 9:16 p.m. Two minutes later, the smoke alarms began to go off. At 10:40 p.m., she returned and presented herself to police.
Detective Senior Constable Chris Mitchell alleged that Lee had installed a camera in the kitchen to monitor the children. According to Mitchell, Lee told someone during a monitored phone call that she saw the smoke in the camera but brushed it off. “It’s nothing. It’s nothing,” she reportedly said.
According to a report from the Australian Associated Press, Lee also heard screaming on the camera. “Investigators believe that the referred screaming is in relation to children during the fire,” Mitchell said.
“It’s upsetting and an aggravating circumstance in relation to this offending … exacerbated by the fact that Lee did not call to assist her own children,” he added, per the news outlet.
Defense lawyer Sam Norton, who is representing Lee, said the woman didn’t know the fire had broken out. Although the AAP reported that the court was told the fire began in the master bedroom before Lee even left the property, ABC is reporting that it is still unknown how the fire got started.
Lee told police that she had reached out to the children’s father, Jayde Petalas, to come watch them, news.com.au reported.
“Investigators spoke with Jayde Petalas, who advised he had not been contacted by Lee,” Mitchell told the court.
Weeks after the fire, on September 30, Lee claimed that the fire wasn’t her fault. “It’s not like I f—ing 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,” she said while talking to someone, news.com.au reported.
While in court, police presented their case for not allowing Lee out on bail, but the judge decided to release her. She has been ordered to stay with her mother in a small nearby town. Lee will return to court in January.
