The mother of a young woman killed alongside her partner and three-week old baby in a deliberately lit house fire has told a Supreme Court hearing she will never forgive the woman responsible for the tragedy.
Jenny Hayes has pleaded guilty to three counts of arson causing death after over a fire she deliberately lit at a Point Cook townhouse, which claimed the lives of Abigail Forrest, 19, Inderpal Singh, 28, and their 19-day old baby Ivy.
Elizabeth Forrest, Abbey's mother, said Hayes's actions had "broken" her.
"I will never forgive you. You ruined me. My life is without them," Ms Forrest said.
"I close my eyes and I visualise the fire … the panic they must have been in, Abbey and Ivy crying. Their last breath will haunt me to my dying day."
The court heard Hayes was a sex worker who was not known to the young family.
She had been engaged by a friend who was also staying in the Point Cook townhouse in the early hours of the morning in December 2020.
The prosecutor told the court that the friend and Hayes had an argument during which the client stole cash from Hayes, including the fee he had initially paid her, after they had had sex.
The exact amount of cash is disputed by the parties but it is understood to be between $160 and $300.
He left the property and, in retaliation, Hayes lit his mattress on fire, took photos of it and sent it to the friend and then left.
The family of three were asleep upstairs.
They all died and were found to have suffered smoke inhalation and burns to their bodies.
It is disputed whether Hayes knew the family was there or not.
'Why did she have to light a fire?'
On Monday the court heard nearly a dozen victim impact statements, with several of the relatives and friends sobbing as they told the courtroom of the pain caused by the death of the young family.
"Why wouldn't Jenny slash his tyres, smash a window, damage property — why did she have to light a fire?" Ms Forrest said.
She said she still called Abbey's phone number just to hear her voicemail message.
"Every day is harder than the next," she said. "It's a nightmare."
"I can't believe it. This is my life now."
Abbey's sister, Emily Forrest, said the tragedy had left her numb.
"I wonder if my sister would have had more children or pursued her career," she said.
The court heard Abbey was the first in her family to finish year 12 and had wanted to study to be a paramedic or police officer.
"I am the proudest big sister on this Earth," Emily Forrest said.
Inderpal Singh was born in India and travelled to Australia on a student visa to study accounting and carpentry.
His sister, Harpreet Sekhon, said Hayes acted with no regard for others' lives.
"For a few dollars you took the lives of three people — three people who were everything to their family — and their family will never be the same," she said.
"We miss his voice, we miss his laughter, we miss everything about him."
Earlier murder charges dropped
The lawyer representing the family, John Herron, said the family had not been provided with information about why the initial charges of three counts of murder had been dropped.
"As victims, we don't really know why that is the case," he said.
"We're not consulted."
Speaking outside the courtroom, several family members said they wanted justice and hoped Hayes would be adequately punished for her crimes.
A spokesperson for the Office of Public Prosecutions said the decision to withdraw murder charges was based on extensive consultation with both police and the victims' families.
The court had heard evidence that Hayes suffered from borderline personality disorder, which might have impacted her judgement on the night of the fire.
Defence lawyer Theo Kassimatis KC told the court Hayes was born to an alcoholic mother, spent time in and out of foster care, and was subject to extensive physical and sexual abuse.
He said despite her difficult circumstances she did not have a history of violence and it was "really out of character for her to harm".
He said there was no evidence of using drugs on the day of the crime.
Hayes was not present in the courtroom but was online as Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth said she had "cried or howled", disrupting previous proceedings, and had also returned a positive COVID test.
The maximum sentence for a charge of arson causing death is 25 years.
The hearing resumes on Tuesday and Hayes will be sentenced at a later date.
