Rockhampton mother Lani Hilder to stand trial for arson, attempted fraud

A mother accused of house arson and attempted fraud worth more than $600,000 only two days after the fire has been ordered to stand trial in the district court.

Lani Hilder, 31, has been charged with arson and fraud for the suspicious fire of a home she owns on Grubb St, Koongal.

A mother accused of burning down her house and attempted fraud worth more than $600,000 only two days after the fire has been ordered to stand trial in the district court.

Lani Jay Hilder, 31, is accused of deliberately setting a house she purchased during an unpaid Rockhampton Regional Council rates auction on fire.

The blaze destroyed the 252 Grubb St, Koongal home and Aboriginal artworks on August 6 in 2022.

Ms Hilder is further accused of attempting of fraudulently obtaining $606,978 from Suncorp Group Ltd two days later, Rockhampton Magistrates Court heard on Monday, July 29, 2024.

Ms Hilder’s co-accused, Mackay man Clyde Kayser Shepheard, has already had his charge of attempted fraud presented to the Rockhampton District Court.

Ms Hilder’s lawyer Anthony Kimmins cross-examined Queensland Police Service’s Detective Senior Constable Jacob Bailey, who was the lead police investigator in the alleged arson case, along with Queensland Fire Department fire investigator Aaron Sands and Forensic Services Australia forensic scientist Gary Nash, at a committal hearing in the magistrates court.

Detective Senior Constable Bailey was questioned about CCTV recovered from various locations and sources, including Rockhampton Regional Council, which allegedly captured Mr Shepheard’s Landcruiser and Ms Hilder’s BMW movements on the day of the fire.

Lani Hilder.

The court heard Ms Hilder’s BMW was captured on CCTV at 6.35pm on the day of the fire coming from the Fitzroy Bridge.

Detective Senior Constable Bailey “observed”, but had not concluded, from the use of the CCTV that the fire started underneath the house.

The court heard that information was not provided to the fire investigation expert, nor was the video shown to anyone else outside the police investigation team.

Mr Sands, who has been a fire investigator since 2017 and has since investigated up to 70 fires, told the court he could not specifically determine the point of origin of the fire, but had identified it had started inside the house in the centre, “roughly” in the hallway between two rooms.

“The fire burned for a long time in that area,” he said.

The court heard a jerry can was located inside the remains of the structure, which Mr Sands recalls seeing in the front part of the house, possibly in the hallway, before it was removed by a Scenes of Crime police officer.

Mr Nash, who has been a fire investigator for 30 years investigating 100 fires per year, told the court there were very few areas he could collect samples from due to the severity of the destruction caused by the fire.

Mr Nash said he took five samples, none of which returned results showing ignitable fuels, but that did not rule out ignitable liquids.

“This is a very severe fire… the likelihood of residues surviving this fire is not very high. It’s not impossible,” he said.

The court heard a burnt fuel container with a secured lid had been found under the house.

The Grubb St, Koongal, property pictured on May 18, 2023.

Mr Nash said his investigation revealed the least damaged part of the house was in the southeast corner.

“I haven’t been able to come back to determine that the fire has started at one particular point… largely because of the severity of the damage that’s been sustained,” he said.

“I don’t have evident that pulls me back to one particular area of origin, so it could be that it didn’t start in one particular place.”

Mr Nash said he did rule out the fire starting underneath the house because the floor was still intact.

Mr Kimmins raised with Detective Senior Constable Bailey the whereabouts of a mobile phone found at the scene.

Detective Senior Constable Bailey said he was unaware of the phone’s existence until Monday, which led to Mr Kimmins to ask for the phone to be located and the QPS to identify the owner.

Mr Kimmins also questioned the detective about which previous owners he questioned during his investigation.

The court heard that according to the Titles office, a large number of people had a one ninth share in the house at one point.

Detective Senior Constable Bailey said he took a statement from several people, but not all.

None of those questioned are accused of wrongdoing.

Magistrate Cameron Press read out Ms Hilder’s charges at the hearing – one of arson and one of fraud.

Ms Hilder’s lawyer stated his client pleaded not guilty to both charges.

Mr Press then committed Ms Hilder to stand trial before a jury in the Rockhampton District Court at a date to be set.

She was granted fresh bail.

Mr Shepheard’s matters will be mentioned in the district court on September 3.

His attempted fraud charge dates are between August 5, 2022, and September 27, 2022.

Mr Shepheard has not entered pleas.

Originally published as Rockhampton mother Lani Hilder to stand trial for arson, attempted fraud