Tewantin house fire: Alleged teen torture house destroyed in blaze day after failed firebombing

Terrified neighbours have spoken out after the Sunshine Coast home where a teen girl was allegedly tortured was destroyed in a suspicious blaze. WATCH THE VIDEO

The Tewantin home where a teenage girl was allegedly tortured during a four-hour ordeal has burnt to the ground in a suspicious blaze in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

It comes after the home, which is owned by the Queensland Housing Commission, was boarded up after the inside was ransacked and vandalised just days earlier.

More than 50,000 people are waiting for social housing in Queensland.

The Tewantin home engulfed by flames. Picture: Supplied

At 10.30am, detectives arrived on scene before searching a nearby footpath before returning a green bicycle to the street. A fire investigator is also on scene.

Neighbours, who are too terrified to be named, woke to the sounds of boards popping off the boarded up home early this morning.

Terrified neighbours have spoken out after the Sunshine Coast home where a teen girl was allegedly tortured was destroyed in a suspicious blaze. Picture: Patrick Woods.

“We just heard the bang and then the roof caved in and then boom,” a neighbour said.

Neighbour Wal Ahti, who lives next door to the razed home, has lived in the street for more than 20 years.

The charred house. Picture: Patrick Woods.

“(The neighbour) knocked on the door to let me know the house was on fire and I might like to move my car, which I did immediately,” he said.

He said the fire took hold quickly and he could hear the tiles dropping from the roof as the blaze continued.

Tewantin local Wal Ahti.

He said it was usually a quiet, family street.

“It’s a tragedy the house is gone, that’s taxpayers’ money down the drain,” Mr Ahti said.

The alleged torture incident. Picture: Instagram.

One of the charged teens involved in an altercation on a bus.

Another neighbour said living on the street since the alleged torture incidents took place was “horrific”.

The woman said she could not see the flames at first because of the boards on the windows but her husband could hear tiles “popping” and realised the house was on fire.

“It’s the most fearful I’ve ever felt, like you’re just watching your back constantly,” she said.

A tradie, who also did not want to be named, was one of the workers who boarded up the home and said they were called back yesterday to reboard the home after someone threw a Molotov cocktail in.

Neighbour Fox Moyo, who lives about four houses up the road, said when he became aware of the fire the firefighters had already arrived.

“It was just a ball of fire it was just, you could see it burning and getting even worse,” he said.

Vandalism inside the now destroyed home. The house, owned by the Queensland Housing Commission, was boarded up days before the blaze. Photo: Contributed

Sunshine Coast CIB Detective Senior Sergeant Craig Mansfield said the cause of the blaze was yet to be determined, but police were combing the scene and social media for any evidence.

Police have been conducting regular patrols in the street for neighbours safety, even before the blaze, he said, and will continue to protect the community.

Detective Senior Sergeant Mansfield described it as an “unfortunate incident”, especially because now the Queensland Housing Commission had one less house available.

He said the level of vigilante acts seen following the alleged torture on March 11 was unlike anything he had seen on the Coast in recent times and was “very concerning”.

But now the house had been destroyed, police envisaged the level of retaliation would reduce significantly.

Detective Senior Sergeant Craig Mansfield said the level of vigilante action in regards to the alleged torture of a teenage girl at a Tewantin home on March 11 was unlike anything he had seen on the Sunshine Coast.

Police were regularly in contact with the family living in the home, though they had vacated the property before the fire broke out.

Sunshine Coast District Superintendent Craig Hawkins said police were also investigating racially-motivated flyers which had been dropped around the street the day before the blaze.

A Queensland Fire and Emergency Services spokeswoman said firefighters were called to the home just after 1.30am on March 29 and the brick home with a tiled roof was already “well involved” when they arrived.

She said the home was abandoned was unoccupied and firefighters brought the blaze under control just before 2am and continued to dampen down the structure.

Firefighters left the scene about 6am.

The house was vandalised before the blaze.

The walls were destroyed before the fire.

The spokeswoman said the roof had collapsed.

It comes after three girls, aged 12 to 14, were charged over allegedly torturing a 13-year-old girl inside the home on March 11.

The house fully alight.

Inside a trashed room.

The coffee table was flipped over.

More to come.

Originally published as Tewantin house fire: Alleged teen torture house destroyed in blaze day after failed firebombing