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The heartbroken grandmother of a baby girl who was burned alive with her mum and dad in an alleged arson attack has revealed the last conversation she had with her daughter.
Abbey Forrest, 19, and Inda Sohal, 28, were found dead with their infant daughter Ivy inside a Point Cook townhouse in Melbourne about 3.40am on Wednesday after a blaze tore through the property.
The teenager’s mother, Elizabeth Forrest, who was so distraught she was almost unable to speak, broke down reliving the last words her daughter ever said to her.
Abbey Forrest, 19, and Inda Sohal, 28, were found dead with their infant daughter Ivy (pictured)
The young family had only moved into the property three weeks ago, just before Ivy was born (pictured: the burnt remains)
‘I spoke to [Abbey] the night before and she said: ‘Love you mum, talk to you tomorrow’,’ she told 9 News.
The infant’s grandfather Alan Forrest said his daughter was ‘glowing’ at the prospect of becoming a mum.
‘Words can’t explain how she was with her young daughter… she was beautiful,’ he said.
The young family only moved into the property three weeks ago, just before Ivy was born.
Mr Forrest told the Herald Sun that visiting the charred remains of the home marked his first ever visit.
‘It was the first time I’ve been up and seen where they lived — I was shocked to see the house and how bad it was,’ he said.
Pictured before the tragedy: Abbey, her sister Emily, their father Alan and mother Elizabeth
Mrs Forrest (pictured) described the 19-year-old’s excitement at the prospect of making a nursery for her newborn
His wife described the 19-year-old’s excitement at the prospect of making a nursery for her newborn.
On Sunday, friends and the local community rallied around the distraught family-of-four to pay tribute to the trio.
Mourners floated balloons and bubbles, and planted a tree in a nearby park as a permanent memorial.
‘Hug your children, because you’re not supposed to bury your children. So give them a hug and let them know that you love them, because you never know when you’ll see them again,’ Mrs Forrest said.
Tributes have poured in for the deceased family with Ms Forrest’s (left) sister Emily (right) visiting the burned site on Friday morning
Emily laid a Peppa Pig stuffed toy at the house in tribute of baby Ivy who was just two days away from turning three-weeks old
Jenny Hayes, 46, was arrested on Thursday morning and charged with three counts of murder and arson causing death after allegedly deliberately starting the fire.
The sex worker and mother-of-four was believed to have been visiting a client on the bottom floor of the townhouse when an argument broke out.
The man left the property when Hayes allegedly torched a mattress, starting a fire that burned the young family alive.
Hayes declined to appear in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday and was remanded in custody.
Her lawyer Erin Byrt told told Magistrate Luisa Bazzini she didn’t know her client’s connection to the young family.
The court also heard Hayes was on pain medication for arthritis and restless leg syndrome and her state in prison was ‘poor’.
Jenny Hayes, 46, was arrested on Thursday morning and charged with three counts of murder
Jenny Hayes, 46, was arrested on Thursday morning and charged with three counts of murder
Abbey’s sister Emily Forrest visited the scene of the fatal house fire on Friday morning to lay flowers and a toy outside the remains of the home.
She laid a Peppa Pig stuffed toy at the house in tribute of baby Ivy.
She described her devastation at losing her sister who she said was ‘over the moon’ to become a mother.
Emily said she had just met her niece once and even then it was very brief.
‘I came home from a camping trip early and sneaked into the hospital and got in a quick little visit despite Covid, and then we had a beautiful family dinner a week or so ago, so we got to meet everybody and our son got to meet his cousin so that was really beautiful,’ she said.
‘Abbey deserved so much more than this.’
Emily said her sister had taken to motherhood like a ‘duck to water’ and that she was incredibly proud of her.
Police attended the Point Cook property on Wednesday after the house was gutted by fire
Shattered friends and family attended the Point Cook property on Friday
‘I just know that she would just turn around and just tell me to try and remain really strong,’ Emily said.
‘She’s always been a really brave person.
‘She had the biggest, boldest personality. She was great. I’ll always cherish the memories that I had growing up with her. She was my only sibling.’
Emily has started a GoFundMe page to raise funds to cover the costs of their funerals.
‘I’m raising money to help with the cost of funerals and memorials for all three of these beautiful souls who had their lives tragically cut short.
‘Any help is greatly appreciated.’
Forty firefighters battled the monster blaze for almost an hour which destroyed the townhouse (pictured) within three minutes and saw two neighbouring houses damaged
More than $9,000 has been raised since the fundraiser was launched.
The young family was found inside the Point Cook townhouse on Wednesday morning.
Neighbours rushed to help the couple after hearing frantic screams coming from the home but they were unable to break through the door in time to get them out.
Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Kennedy said a neighbour made a ‘heroic and brave effort’ to rescue the occupants with a ladder but was overwhelmed by the intensity of the flames.
‘Sadly they did their best but the fire took its toll and nothing could be done,’ Sen Sgt Kennedy said.
‘In the early hours of Wednesday, December 2nd, a house fire in Point Cook claimed the lives of my 19-year-old sister, her loving partner and their almost three-week-old daughter,’ she wrote.
Forty firefighters battled the monster blaze for almost an hour which destroyed the townhouse within three minutes and saw two neighbouring houses damaged.
The cause of the fire is yet to be determined but it is being treated as suspicious.
Emergency services rushed to the Totem Way property at Point Cook about 3.40am Wednesday with reports of a two-storey property engulfed in flames
‘It certainly is being treated as suspicious, predominantly because of the intensity of the fire,’ Sen Sgt Kennedy said.
‘When fire services first got here it was fully engulfed.
‘The townhouse was raging, particularly at the front and upstairs … with accidental fires that doesn’t normally occur.’
One of the neighbours, Jemil, said he felt ‘sick to his stomach’ after not being able to rescue the woman he saw trapped inside the home.
‘We tried everything. We didn’t know what else to do. We couldn’t run into the house,’ he told The Herald Sun.
He said the woman was gasping for air at one of the top-storey windows and a different neighbour threw an axe in attempt to break it so she could jump out.
Unfortunately when the axe did break the glass the woman ‘went silent’.
‘It’s kind of horrifying, gruesome and I just feel sick to the stomach knowing there was someone in that house. It’s pretty terrifying,’ he said.
Lockie Allen and his father live behind the burnt property and said when they ran outside the entire house was engulfed in flames.
‘We’re right behind so that could have been us… you don’t want to imagine it was us, you don’t want it to be (anyone),’ he said.
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