http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/ne...k=e988e9b732e78d16ffa299f46f51da31-1440868386
A YOUNG girl who should be celebrating her fourth birthday on Monday is instead fighting for life in hospital after being doused with petrol and set alight.
Hours after an early birthday party, the three-year-old suffered “horrendous” burns to her face and upper body when she was allegedly set alight as she slept in her cot.
Neighbours who came to the aid of the girl and her siblings, who were also doused with petrol, wereconfronted by the horrific scene just after midnight Saturday on Holbeck Street, Doubleview.
The children’s mother ran from the home screaming, “He’s set the kids on fire”, a shocked resident told PerthNow.
An off-duty policewoman living across the road administered first aid and plunged the three-year-old in her bath to ease the burns. Another resident confronted a man at the home and used a “chokehold” to restrain him.
Edward John Herbert, 43, believed to be the children’s dad, appeared in Perth Magistrates Court on Saturday afternoon on five charges of aggravated grievous bodily harm, attempted grievous bodily harm, being armed with a filleting knife and dousing a victim in petrol.
The three-year-old girl was in a critical but stable condition at Princess Margaret Hospital late Saturday night, while her six-year-old sister and seven-year-old brother were both stable.
One Holbeck Street resident said: “The children’s mother screamed, ‘Help, help, he’s set the kids on fire’.
“The two elder children appeared OK, they just smelled of fuel. But the youngest ... she was burnt horrendously. It just frightened the hell out of me.”
Another resident told how he restrained a man at the home until police arrived and took him into custody.
“I ran into the house and put him in a chokehold until the cops arrived and soon enough he was out cold in a couple of seconds, ”the resident, who did not want to be named, said. “The house was a complete mess.”
Edward Herbert has been charged with grievous bodily harm of one child, and attempted grievous bodily harm of another two children.
Hours after an early birthday party, the three-year-old suffered “horrendous” burns to her face and upper body when she was allegedly set alight as she slept in her cot.
Neighbours who came to the aid of the girl and her siblings, who were also doused with petrol, wereconfronted by the horrific scene just after midnight Saturday on Holbeck Street, Doubleview.
The children’s mother ran from the home screaming, “He’s set the kids on fire”, a shocked resident told PerthNow.
An off-duty policewoman living across the road administered first aid and plunged the three-year-old in her bath to ease the burns. Another resident confronted a man at the home and used a “chokehold” to restrain him.
Edward John Herbert, 43, believed to be the children’s dad, appeared in Perth Magistrates Court on Saturday afternoon on five charges of aggravated grievous bodily harm, attempted grievous bodily harm, being armed with a filleting knife and dousing a victim in petrol.
The three-year-old girl was in a critical but stable condition at Princess Margaret Hospital late Saturday night, while her six-year-old sister and seven-year-old brother were both stable.
One Holbeck Street resident said: “The children’s mother screamed, ‘Help, help, he’s set the kids on fire’.
“The two elder children appeared OK, they just smelled of fuel. But the youngest ... she was burnt horrendously. It just frightened the hell out of me.”
Another resident told how he restrained a man at the home until police arrived and took him into custody.
“I ran into the house and put him in a chokehold until the cops arrived and soon enough he was out cold in a couple of seconds, ”the resident, who did not want to be named, said. “The house was a complete mess.”
Edward Herbert has been charged with grievous bodily harm of one child, and attempted grievous bodily harm of another two children.