How it happened: Sex worker Jenny Hayes’ revenge act that left young couple, baby dead

Sex worker Jenny Hayes lit the house fire that killed a young couple and their 19-day-old baby girl. Here’s how the tragedy unfolded.

A sex worker who unwittingly killed a young family when she lit their home on fire was “hysterical” upon learning of their deaths, her lawyer has argued.

Jenny Hayes pleaded guilty to three counts of arson causing death after she set a mattress on fire inside a Point Cook townhouse when a client took cash from her and fled amid a dispute over sex services in the early hours of December 2, 2020.

Young family Abbey Forrest, 19, Inderpal ‘Indi’ Singh Sohal, 28, and their 19-day old daughter Ivy were asleep in the upper bedroom, where they were found dead from carbon monoxide poisoning.

During defence submissions on the second day of a pre-sentence hearing at the Supreme Court, Hayes’ lawyer, Theo Kassimatis KC, said his client had shown genuine remorse when she learned of the family’s deaths.

“This was a woman who, when she was told three people had perished … was hysterical,” he said.

“She was screaming into the phone that she had killed a baby.”

Crown prosecutor, Raymond Gibson KC, accepted Hayes had a traumatic and abusive upbringing but her revenge act over the stolen cash had led to “dreadful” consequences.

Mr Gibson said although Hayes did not know anyone was upstairs, her offending was in the higher range given the fire was lit early during the morning and on a week night.

“It was incredibly risky,” he said.

New details have emerged about 46-year-old Jenny Hayes, the woman accused of causing a fire in a Point Cook home which killed a young family including a newborn baby. Picture from her Facebook page

This is how the Point Cook tragedy unfolded:

Tuesday December 1, 2020

10.31pm: Aakash Aakash contacts Jenny Hayes through the Locanto classifieds app seeking sex services. About two hours later, she sends three photos, describing herself, her services and charges. Hayes, who is homeless, says she can’t host Aakash.

Wednesday, December 2, 2020

12.31am: Aakash calls his friend Inderpal ‘Indi’ Sohal, who lives with his partner Abbey Forrest and their newborn daughter Ivy in Totem Way, Point Cook. He tells Indi he’s coming over, asking him to unlock the door to the downstairs bedroom. Indi had previously said the spare room was Aakash’s to use.

1.48am: Aakash parks his car on Totem Way and as he waits, he gets screenshots from Hayes confirming she’s less than 30 minutes away.

2.06am: Hayes arrives on Totem Way and parks behind Aakash, texting him, “Here”. He replies, “I’m outside”, then approaches her car telling her to keep her voice low because “my mates were sleeping upstairs”. She replies, “OK”. They went inside where he paid $180 for an hour of sexual services. She put the money in her handbag. They have sex for about 30 minutes.

2.35am: Hayes, still with Aakash, replies to a message from a potential client seeking services. Aakash asks for sex again but Hayes refuses. Aakash steals the $180 from Hayes’ handbag. Aakash leaves the house without locking the sliding door.

2.45am: Hayes follows Aakash, attempting to take photos of his car before he drives away to a friend’s house in Spotswood. A court later hears Aakash is a “very unbelievable witness” who has prior convictions for fraud. Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth describes him as a “coward”.

2.47am: Hayes sends Aakash a series of texts that read, “I’m charging you with rape, “You’re going to jail f**ker”, and “Cops hit your number plate”. Aakash blocks her number.

2.48am: She sends another text, “And I’m setting your house on fire right now”. She sits in her car for the next few minutes, where she texts him again, “Say goodbye, you are getting kicked out of this country”, and tries to ring him. She responds to texts seeking her sexual services.

2.51am: Hayes texts Aakash again, “Oh and you left your lighter, cops are coming here now,” and, “You f**ked with the wrong person”.

2.53am: She returns to the downstairs bedroom and lights the mattress on fire.

2.55am: She’s captured on CCTV setting the fire, walking outside through the sliding door and taking four photos of the blaze before her car is seen driving away.

Also 2.55am: A witness hears a male voice screaming, “fire, fire” as fire alarms are heard. This same witness soon sees a man screaming from the first floor, “help, help” at the window. It’s believed this is Indi Sohal, who was sleeping in the upper bedroom with his partner Abbey Forrest and their 19-day-old baby girl Ivy.

2.57am: Hayes texts Aakash two photos of bedroom ablaze, “Your house on fire”.

2.59am: Firefighters are alerted to the blaze and rush to the townhouse. When they arrive, the house is well alight and they’re told by witnesses of fears that people were inside.

3.02am: Driving along nearby streets, Hayes stops her car and reverses back, taking a photo of the house well alight from a distance.

3.17am: After receiving an inquiry from a prospective client, Hayes texts them a description of herself that she has “wild blue hair, eyes, busty, curvy, size 12” and states how much her services are. They text for about another 30 minutes.

3.20am: Another prospective client contacts her and she sends the same description of herself.

3.31am: A fire commander is told that the Totem Way blaze was “very advanced” with flames “metres in the air” and the roof had collapsed.

3.34am: Now at a North Melbourne property, Hayes texts her son asking if he is awake. “I did something stupid,” she writes.

3.35am: Firefighters deem the house too dangerous to search for occupants because of the intensity of the fire.

3.43am: Hayes texts Aakash again saying, “You raped me, took all my money, you f**ked with the wrong person dickhead”.

4am: She texts a contact on her phone, “A client took all my money so I burnt his house down.” She continues, “I’m so sick of people thinking they can just do this shit to me and nothing happens to them. He took what I had so I took what he had.”

4.45am: The fire dies down and the house can finally be searched.

5.05am: Finally gaining access, firefighters first find the body of Indi, then later find Abbey and Ivy. They died of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Thursday, December 3, 2020

1.30am: Hayes goes to the house of friends and shows them photos of the fire saying she’d “done something stupid”. She says a client sexually assaulted her by removing the condom and stole money from her. She claims she sent Aakash the photos of a fire she lit so he could come back and deal with the blaze but he never replied.

10.50am: Hayes is arrested at Skyways Tavern at Airport West. Her rented Toyota Corolla is searched, with multiple lighters found.

She later tells police in a recorded conversation that, “It was only a little flame on the bed.”

“I started burning his mattress because he took my money.”

She says he took the $180 he’d paid her, and a further $150 that she’d earned from another client.

Police tell Hayes that Aakash had told her there were people in the house. “F**kin he didn’t,” she replies.

Hayes is charged with murder, and alternative charges of arson causing death.

June, 2022

Hayes agrees to plead guilty to three counts of arson causing death, which carries a maximum 25 year sentence. The murder charges are withdrawn.

November, 2022

She faces a pre-sentencing hearing where details of her crimes become public for the first time. She will be sentenced on Friday, November 11.