Emily Woods
A murderer has been jailed for life after setting his wife and stepdaughter on fire and then blaming his dying partner.
Roland James Griffiths, 41, was sentenced on Thursday morning at Melbourne’s Supreme Court almost four years after he poured petrol on Kylie Sheahan, 35, and set her alight.
Sheahan, a mother of six, died and her 16-year-old daughter suffered burns to more than 50 per cent of her body as she tried to save her mum’s life.
Griffiths had made threats to burn down the Albanvale home, in Melbourne’s north-west, in the months leading up to the deadly March 2022 blaze.
Seven children were home when a heavily intoxicated Griffiths poured a jerrycan of petrol onto Sheahan and then held a lighter against her.
Two of his stepdaughters begged him not to light the petrol, and instead of listening, he taunted them, the court was told.
“I promise, bub, I swear … I won’t do it,” Griffiths replied, before placing the lighter near the ground and setting Sheahan alight.
Flames spread to his 16-year-old stepdaughter and to Griffiths, who extinguished the fire on himself before helping his wife.
Sheahan was dragged to the bathroom, given a cold shower and then Griffiths took her outside and sprayed his wife with a hose.
The children who were trapped inside the house, including a 10-month-old and a two-year-old, were rescued by their older siblings before the entire home caught fire.
Emergency services responding to the incident heard Griffiths blaming Sheahan for the fire and telling her: “Why didn’t you stop me, you should’ve stopped me and I should be in jail.”
As she was dying, Sheahan lied to police for Griffiths, saying he tried to light himself on fire and when she tried to stop him, she caught fire, too.
Sheahan was taken to hospital with burns to 91 per cent of her body, but she died on March 18, 2022, four days after the blaze.
The day Griffiths was supposed to face trial, in February 2025, he indicated he wanted to plead guilty to murder and recklessly causing injury to his stepchild.
Justice John Champion labelled the murder as a brutal example of the offence and highlighted Griffiths’ taunting of his victims, who must have been “terrified”.
Champion also said Griffiths’ victim-blaming of Sheahan after the offending was “particularly repugnant”.
“I make it clear that Ms Sheahan was completely blameless, innocent and did not deserve the treatment you meted out to her at all,” the judge said.
“Your attack on Ms Sheahan was grievously inappropriate.”
Champion jailed Griffiths for life, with 32 years to serve before he is eligible for parole.
Griffiths has spent more than 1300 days in custody as he has been in jail since his arrest in March 2022.
AAP
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732), Lifeline 13 11 14, Men’s Referral Service 1300 766 491
From our partners
Read the full article here
