Glen Waverley killer fire mystery: Father still in serious condition

The sole survivor of the Glen Waverley fire that killed his children and their mother is closer to speaking with police after his condition improved overnight.

Hiroyuki Kikuchi. Picture: Supplied

Police are closer to learning key details about a horror house fire that killed a loving mum and her three young daughters in Glen Waverley.

The condition of Hiroyuki Kikuchi, the father and sole survivor of Sunday’s inferno, improved on Tuesday morning.

The Alfred hospital downgraded his condition from serious to stable, meaning he is closer to being interviewed by arson squad detectives.

His recollection of events, including whether he knows what caused the fire, will be crucial to the investigation.

On Monday it emerged the panicked Japanese restaurant owner did not disclose his three girls, Ako, Uta and Enna, aged 3, 5 and 7, were in the Tulloch Grove townhouse until firefighters arrived.

Neighbour Hanish Poonia called triple-0 after hearing an explosion and seeing the father try to douse flames with a bin full of water.

Ako and her two sisters, aged 3 and 5, died in the tragedy. Picture: Supplied

Kaoru Okano died alongside her three children. Picture: Supplied

The family’s Tulloch Grove townhouse. Picture: David Crosling

“He was in a panic and was trying to control the fire and because he was in a panic he was not able to communicate with us,” he said. “After the (fire) services got here, he started shouting ‘my kids, my kids, they are upstairs’.”

Mr Poonia said by then it was too late to save Kaoru Okano and her three girls.

“If he had told us before, I think we would have gone in and tried to do something but it was too late,” he said.

Ms Okano’s heartbroken father, Yutaka Okano, lives in Japan and is concerned about coming to Melbourne due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.

In a Facebook post translated into English, he wrote: “January 10th will be remembered as a day that is too sad … too much to suffer.”

Mr Kikuchi will be asked about the cause of the fire that broke out in their townhouse in Glen Waverley, pictured, when he is well enough to speak with authorities. Picture: David Crosling.

A man lays flowers near the site of a fatal house fire in Glen Waverley where a woman and her three children were killed. Monday, January 11, 2020. Picture: David Crosling

Loved ones and neighbours paid tribute to the mother and daughters on Monday, leaving flowers, cards, soft toys and sweets at the entrance of their Glen Waverley home.

Close neighbour Kelly Vu broke down in tears as she spoke of the “beautiful souls taken too soon”.

“The girls would come over to my house to play and if I was baking a cake I would always make sure they got some,” she said. “They were the three most beautiful girls and so well-mannered. Their mother was very very beautiful and looked after her girls very well.”

Viniana, 11, said she would miss Ako, the eldest of the daughters, who would do hula dancing with her.

“She was always so bright and had a smile on her face. She was a talented dancer,” she said.

Acting Deputy Commissioner Bob Hill confirmed flammable liquids found at the scene were connected to Mr Kikuchi’s restaurant, Rolls Japanese Kitchen on Carlisle Street, Balaclava.

He said Mr Kikuchi would be asked about the cause of the fire when he is medically cleared to speak.

“(He) may or may not be able to shed light into how the fire commenced,” he said.