Natalie Sands fights for case to be reopened after house fire claims son and mother Antoinette

Natalie Sands was doused in petrol by her father and set alight while watching her son and mother perish. Now, she’s fighting to have the case reopened. Warning: Graphic content

A woman who watched her son and mother perish in a domestic violence-related house fire is fighting to have her case reopened and the perpetrator – her own father – brought to trial.

Natalie Sands was doused in petrol by her father Richard in the early hours of October 17, 2019, before he pushed a cigarette lighter against her chest and ignited it.

As the flames engulfed her, she watched helplessly as her five-year-old son, Orlando, and mother Antoinette, perished as their home went up in flames.

She would later find out that her mother had been bludgeoned to death in their Tamworth home before it was set alight.

The house fire in Tamworth in northern NSW. Picture: SKY

After leaving the scene, Richard Sands drove to the local Tamworth police station before telling officers: “I need to hand myself in. I have just set my house on fire, trying to kill my missus and kids.”

However, despite the shocking acts, it was decided in October 2021 that Sands wouldn’t face trial over the deaths or for trying to kill his daughter, who suffered 75 per cent burns to her body.

A judge accepted that Sands, 60, was likely suffering a neurodegenerative disease resulting in psychotic symptoms as well as a major depressive disorder.

Natalie Sands pictured with her son Orlando who died in the house fire. Supplied

Natalie Sands (pictured) suffered burns to 75 per cent of her body. Supplied

The judge said: “I am … satisfied on the balance of probabilities, based on the undisputed combined force of the opinions of [two doctors], that the accused did not know the nature and quality of his acts and did not know they were wrong because of both a mental health impairment and a cognitive impairment.”

Sands was instead sentenced to the mental health unit of a correctional facility.

The decision has left Ms Sands “shattered”.

But after regaining her strength, she‘s now fighting to have a lawyer reopen the case and hold her father “properly accountable”.

Antoinette Sands was bludgeoned to death by her husband Richard George Sands, who then set the house on fire which also killed his grandson Orlando Harper. Picture: Supplied

The 29-year-old, who is now living in Queensland, has also set up a GoFundMe page to help fund her legal fight, which has already raised over $6000 in a few days.

“The day of the attack was the end of my life and the end of who I am. My boy was my little sunshine and my mum was so pure of all hearts,” Ms Sands said.

“I’m shattered. I’m a different person and it feels like I’m living in a horror movie and my father is able to get away with it.

“Where is the line where murder is actually murder and should be punished as that instead of mental health.”

Having suffered severe burns that left her bones visible, Ms Sands spent the next 10 months in hospital where she had dozens of skin grafts, surgeries and treatments before learning to walk again.

Natalie Sands suffered burns to at least 75 per cent of her body.

But despite the chronic pain she lives in every day, Ms Sands said she won’t be silenced any longer until “real justice is served.”

“I suffer every day, both physically and mentally,” she said.

“My joints had calcified from the burns, my right ankle was twisted backwards, and all my toes were broken, after my desperate attempts to save Orlando.

“I’m still also trying to look after my son who is still alive, while also trying to fight for justice. My mum and son aren’t nameless victims,” she said.