By Adam Cooper
The woman charged with murder over the deaths of a couple and their baby daughter who were killed in a fire at their townhouse in Melbourne’s west has pleaded not guilty and will stand trial.
Jenny Hayes, 46, was arrested the morning after a blaze at a Point Cook property on December 2 killed Abbey Forrest, 19, Inderpal Singh, 28, and the couple’s three-week-old daughter, Ivy.
Abbey Forrest, Inderpal Singh and their baby daughter Ivy.
Ms Hayes sobbed as she appeared before Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday, via a video link from prison, and pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and three of arson causing death.
Magistrate Timothy Bourke remanded the accused woman in custody to appear before the Supreme Court next week so a date for her trial can be set.
Ms Forrest and Mr Singh had moved in to the Totem Way house just weeks before the blaze, around the time of Ivy’s birth.
Neighbours who saw the fire spoke of frantically trying to hurl an axe and throw rocks through the house’s jammed upstairs window after they heard screams for help.
Jenny Hayes has pleaded not guilty to murder and arson causing death.Credit: Nine News
Police have confirmed Ms Hayes did not know the family.
In the days after the tragedy, Ms Forrest’s sister, Emily, said her sibling and her partner died at what should have been the perfect time of their lives.
Ms Forrest said her sister loved being a first-time mother.
The scene of the Point Cook blaze.Credit: Paul Jeffers
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