Akira Garton demands inquest into tragic candle fire deaths of twin daughters Ophelia and Tarrow near Byron Bay

Akira Garton breaks her silence on the house fire that claimed the lives of her identical twin daughters, Ophelia and Tarrow, near Byron Bay in 2021.

Akira Garton woke on her birthday 18 months ago to smothering hugs and kisses from her identical four-year-old twin daughters Ophelia and Tarrow, and their big sister, aged 7.

It was the last day they were all together, and videos and photos of the happy occasion are now haunting reminders of loss, along with that year’s birthday card bearing Ophelia’s first written words: “I love you Mummy.”

The next day Garton handed over care of the girls to their ­father, her estranged partner ­Edward “Jimmi” Wright, as part of their shared parenting.

The following weekend, Wright took the children to a party at his new girlfriend’s home on a rural property near Byron Bay, and a night of music, dancing and laughter turned into a heartbreaking tragedy.

Twins Tarrow Harmine Amitayus and Ophelia Rue Amitayus were left fast asleep by themselves in a house with a tall, tapered candle burning just metres away, and when fire took hold they were engulfed in toxic smoke that ended their young lives.

Adults gathered around a bonfire about 50m away had no warning of the unfolding nightmare, with a smoke alarm found disabled with no battery.

Coroner Karen Stafford has now quietly declared the twins’ death on November 6, 2021, an ­accident and declined to make any recommendations or to hold an inquest.

“At most, the inquest would ­remind parents and carers not to leave children alone with a naked flame and not to remove the cover of a smoke alarm,” Stafford said in her unpublished reasons for dispensing with one.

But for Garton, many questions remain, and she wants the NSW State Coroner, Teresa O’Sullivan, to intervene so there is a thorough and transparent ­inquiry into whether the fire involved criminal negligence.

She is also asking if more can be done to prevent future tragedies, saying that in the hills around Byron there is an entrenched culture of people burning candles and incense, disabling or neglecting to install smoke detectors, and leaving young children unsupervised.

“Almost a year and a half after my children died, I feel like the system would prefer to act as if my children did not exist,” Garton told The Weekend Australian.

“No one has taken responsibility for the deaths, acknowledged or even apologised for the deaths. An inquest will provide a space for all of the questions to be asked – an inquest is the absolute minimum my children deserve.”

Shared arrangement

Garton’s break-up from Wright more than three years before the fire had been protracted and difficult. However, they were doing their best to make things as easy as possible for their girls, each spending seven days with the children at their separate homes in Mullumbimby.

Wright, 39 at the time of the fire, was well-known locally as a Bay FM community radio presenter and former state political candidate with anti-lockout party Keep Sydney Open.

His new partner, Hannah Forrester, then 33, had a daughter and lived on a multi-occupancy property split into eight shares at Goonengerry, 20km north west of the Cape Byron Lighthouse.

Six separate dwellings were ­located on the share where Forrester lived. She had a single-­storey, open-plan house that the share’s owner, Michael Hameiri, nicknamed The Love Shack, police were told. Hameiri let people stay in ­exchange for looking after the property and giving him cash if they chose. Investigators confirmed he had an electrician install a new smoke alarm inside the home in January 2021, and he is facing no blame for the fatal fire.

All-night party

On the night of Saturday, November 6, 2021, between 30 to 40 residents and guests gathered at the property for a party in an open paddock.

Invitations sent by one resident two weeks earlier said DJs would be playing alongside a bonfire.

“You are cordially invited to come and help us celebrate the new super moon as it transitions from Scorpio to Sagittarius,” the invitation stated.

Stafford’s reasons for declining to hold an inquest, ­delivered to Garton in February, state that about 8.30pm-9pm Wright took the twins to the house to sleep in a shared double bed. Tarrow was unsettled and briefly rejoined her father at the bonfire before he tucked her in again.

Wright told police he checked on the sleeping twins every 30 to 45 minutes, with Forrester also occasionally checking in.

In the early hours of Sunday, with the pair’s older children sleeping on a mattress near the bonfire, Wright and Forrester returned to the house intending to set up another bed.

“Ms Forrester lit a candle and placed it in a small candelabra on top of a wooden upright piano near her father’s ashes,” the coroner said.

Akira Garton holding Lamby, a toy that survived the fire that killed her twin girls Ophelia and Tarrow. Picture: John Feder

The coroner did not mention it in the document, but Wright told police that he and Forrester had spoken about her late father, and that was why she lit the candle.

The coroner said the pair then left the twins to go back to the party to say goodbye to the others, and stayed longer than expected.

When Forrester returned to the house at 4am, she found it filled with so much thick smoke she couldn’t reach the girls. She ran screaming for help, and Wright grabbed both girls, placed them on the ground outside and began CPR. Ambulance officers arrived at 4.22am, but the girls could not be revived.

Coroner Stafford said the candle caused a painting hanging on a wall above the piano to fall. It was “likely that the fire began when the painting knocked over the candle”.

Part of the burning picture frame fell behind the piano, causing a second seat of the fire.

Another part of the painting and frame ignited the piano stool, along with a wicker basket of toys and clothing.

All bar one window was closed, leading to the house to fill with smoke. The only smoke alarm complied with Australian standards and was correctly installed, the coroner found. “However, as the cover had been opened, and as it had no battery inside, the power source had been disconnected rendering the alarm inoperable.”

Request for drug tests

Stafford was satisfied there were no suspicious circumstances. While Wright did not seek an inquest, Ms Garton did and believed it was required “for the full story to be revealed”, the coroner said.

“Her view is that the police did not interview all witnesses who were present,” Stafford said.

The deaths of Ophelia and Tarrow following a house fire near Byron Bay in November 2021 was not suspicious, a coroner found.

The coroner said she did not propose making any recommendations.

“Whilst leaving a naked flame in a room with a child, no adult supervision and no effective smoke alarm are matters of safety, there is no wider issue of public safety,” she concluded.

Garton said she had asked Wright to take a drug test after the fire, but he declined.

“This was very important to me. I asked multiple times through the police, family and ­directly to Jimmi,” she said.

Police told the coroner there was no evidence to suggest Wright or Forrester were under the influence of a prohibited drug.

An electrician told police the smoke alarm was meant to be connected to both mains power and a battery. It was designed to chirp intermittently if it did not have battery power, but opening the alarm’s cover and leaving it hanging would have completely disconnected it.

Why the alarm was disabled, and who disabled it, has not been explained.

Father ‘shattered’

Garton, 36, now in Sydney, says other lives could be lost in similar circumstances.

“This behaviour is so prevalent up north,” she said.

Wright said on Friday that he ­remained “absolutely shattered about the unspeakable tragic loss of our gorgeous girls”.

“The only consolation I have is my vivid memories of their laughter, fierce intellects, insatiable curiosity, strong wills, and their unbreakable bond,” he said.

“We are forever grateful for the enormous support from the community who rallied around us and to the first responders.

“Our firm belief is that the Coroner undertook a comprehensive and impartial investigation into their deaths with expert input from the police and medical professionals.”