Brisbane fires: Oakdale Guest House, Ipswich, blaze kills five, arsonist still free

THE heat in Shane’s room was blistering — but he wasn’t on fire as he’d first thought. He jumped to his feet and escaped - but five others in this southeast Queensland guesthouse didn’t.

IT was the heat that woke Shane Jones.

It had been a December of long, hot nights — but this was different to the normal stuffy air that took over the cramped guest house rooms.

Shane’s feet were burning. He woke to a heat so intense he thought his feet were on fire.

The Oakdale Guest House was a raging inferno.

The fire had taken hold and spread through the converted hospital, eating its way from room to room, floor to floor, so quickly that some residents slept through any chance of escape.

The heat in Shane’s room was blistering — but he wasn’t on fire as he’d first thought. He jumped to his feet and escaped room 18.

In room 11, 18-year-old shop assistant Dallas Ginn woke with the immediate sense that something was very wrong.

Heat radiated through the old building. Noise was everywhere. Screams and crashes tore through the hallway.

Outside the door was a wall of flame.

Dallas dived head first out the window.

The burnt-out Oakdale house in Milford Street, Ipswich.

Unemployed meatworkers Stuart Smith and Wayne Tschutura had been sharing room 12. It hadn’t been a good night’s sleep.

At 11pm there’d been some kind of carry on somewhere in the building. A fight. The shouting had gone on for half an hour.

Sometime around 3am, the shouting started again. But this shouting was different.

It was fear, rather than anger.

“Get up, get up!” one of the residents yelled.

Stuart and Wayne ran for their bedroom door, wrenching it open.

The flames roared at them. The hallway was totally consumed.

The heat hit them like a punch in the chest, searing their skin.

They closed the door and ran for the window. Stuart jumped out in his jocks. There’d been no time for clothes. No time to grab money or wallets or anything. There’d only been time to escape with their lives.

Resident: ‘The heat was like sunburn’

THERE were 25 rooms at the Oakdale Guest House. They were small and cheap and filled with pensioners, the disabled and the down-on-their-luck.

The older residents were housed on the upper level, the young men downstairs.

Garnett Florence was 70, on a war veteran’s pension. He’d lived at the boarding house on and off for 17 years.

He woke in room 24 to the heat and the noise.

The hallway outside his room glowed red as he made his escape. There’d been time to grab a pile of shirts and shorts but no more.

“The heat on my shoulders was like sunburn,” he’d recount.

Desmond Bemi (middle) died in the fire.

Wood split and fell as the fire raged.

The top storey began to collapse, sending trapped residents crashing through the floor.

Michael Compton had no warning at all. The 17-year-old’s room was on fire before he’d had a chance to move. The wall caught fire, and then the curtains.

He grabbed a half empty fire extinguisher and set it off. It was no use.

“I thought some bastard had bombed the place,” he said later.

In room 9, 19-year-old Bradley Brown woke to the sound of screams. When he opened his door, flames exploded into his face, singing his hair and eyebrows.

He turned and lunged for the window. He didn’t even think to take anything with him.

Outside, he looked up to a terrible sight.

On the upstairs landing was one his fellow residents. The man was on fire and he was screaming. Flames engulfed his body. Bradley couldn’t make out his face.

He looked for a way to help but the flames were too high. There was nothing he could do.

Fight before the fire

THERE were 28 people staying at the Oakdale Guest House on December 28, 1990.

It would have been one more but Jerrod Benjamin Stephan — “Benny” to his mates — got into a bit of strife.

He’d arrived at 11pm with a friend, Warwick Doncaster. They were there to borrow some money — and Benny had planned to stay the night — until the fight started.

One of the residents accused Warwick of stealing his cigarettes. They argued and a fight broke out. Warwick was knocked to the ground. Stephan picked up a metal chair and swung it, hitting the man over the head.

It was about midnight when they left, fleeing for Warwick’s car.

It would be several hours before the fire broke out.

The wooden Milford St building was a tinder box. It was one of three buildings, dating back to the previous century, once used as a hospital.

Relatives and police appeal for information after the reopening of the cold case in 2008.

The fire brigade had conducted an inspection the previous year, warning the owner of the safety risks.

When the fire broke out at 3am, it engulfed the building, working its way towards the neighbouring structures.

Firefighters were stationed nearby. They arrived in a blaze of sirens.

Next door, flames licked at a Country Women’s Association rest home where 23 elderly women slept in their beds.

Many were too frail to save themselves. Police, firemen and a night attendant from the boarding house carried them all to safety.

On the other side, a 94-year-old woman and her 78-year-old sister — both deaf — slept soundly in their beds.

Firemen broke into the house and rescued them.

When the flames were out and only a charred ruin remained, police began the horrific task of counting the bodies.

Desmond Bemi, 59, Trevor Ganter, 64, Salvatore Tusa, 41, Edward Boyne, 80 and Eldred Glode, 68, had not escaped the flames.

Desmond had been born in the very same building in which he’d died.

He was a single man who’d enjoyed tennis and catching up with his brother for a beer once a week.

In his younger days, he’d been quite the athlete. In his later years, he’d lived a quiet life in a small room in the boarding house.

On December 29, Bradley Brown had watched in horror as the older man, covered in flames, burnt to death on the upstairs landing.

Inquest hears: ‘They won’t catch me for it’

BY the time an inquest was held two years later, police were convinced the fire had been deliberately lit.

Evidence was heard that Benny Stephan had confessed to lighting the fire.

A man named Andrew Tweedie — who had lived with Benny for a time — and a police informant who used the name Christine Smith, both testified they’d heard him confess.

Christine told the court she’d been at a pub with Benny when the boarding house fire became the topic of their conversation.

Benny had been there that night. There’d been a fight.

“I done the job,” she claimed he’d told her.

“If you really want to know, I done it.”

Ipswich Lifeline director the Rev Bob Griffiths at the burnt out Oakdale house in 1990.

The court heard they’d discussed it on another occasion too — while standing on the veranda.

Andrew had overheard.

“Oh yeah, so I lit it, so what?” Andrew told the court he’d heard Benny say.

“They won’t catch me for it.”

Christine told the inquest she’d gotten a phone call from Benny, who was at the Brisbane Transit Centre. She said he’d told her he was “taking off”. He’d said too much.

Another police informant, named only as “Mr X”, testified Benny had threatened to kill his mate Warwick if anything was said about the fire.

“I’ll kill him. One more murder doesn’t matter,” he was allegedly heard to have said.

On December 4, 1992, as the inquest drew to a close, coroner Anthony Pascoe ruled there was enough evidence to commit Jarrod Benjamin Stephan to trial.

The charges were arson and five counts of murder. He ordered a warrant be issued for Benny’s arrest.

There was just one problem — nobody knew where he was.

The prime suspect surrenders

THE search for Benny had been going for four days when he walked into the Brisbane Watch House with his lawyer and handed himself in.

It was another two years before a committal hearing was held.

“I can’t really remember what I said to Benny (Stephan) because I did have a few drinks. `I’ve done it’ — I remember him saying that,’’ the police informant told the court.

A second informant gave evidence that police had approached him to get Benny talking about the fire.

Benny had appeared “nervous and shaken” when the man told him he was the “prime suspect” for the fire.

Eventually, the charges were dropped. There was not enough evidence to proceed.

Benny applied for compensation.

Desmond Bemi (third from left) died in the fire.

Do you know the truth?

POLICE are still looking for the Oakdale Guest House arsonist.

In 2008, investigators made a new push for information. They were particularly interested in the fight that broke out at the boarding house that night.

“The person who was assaulted was not a resident at the house, nor did he want to make a complaint. However, this incident was of interest to police at the time,’’ police said.

“Also at the time of the fire, a witness reported seeing a two-tone Holden HQ sedan with a white body and gold roof in the vicinity of the residence.

“We are hoping that by reopening this investigation, we may jog someone’s memory or encourage someone who has information, but was afraid to come forward at the time, to contact police now.’’

The then Police Minister Judy Spence would later offer a $250,000 reward.

“The murders of five people have remained unsolved for nearly 20 years but police have not given up,’’ she said.

“It’s hoped that witnesses will now come forward with crucial evidence that can help secure a conviction and give closure to the family and friends of those who perished.

“Police say even the smallest piece of information could be very useful to this investigation.’’

Crime Stoppers: 1800 333 000.