Dean Heasman's grandmother breaks silence after deadly house fire
The estranged and terminally-ill grandmother of the man allegedly responsible for lighting a house fire that killed three of his children has spoken out in the wake of the tragedy.
In the early hours of Sunday morning, neighbours raised the alarm after spotting the fire in a family home in the suburb of Lalor Park, with firefighters arriving on the scene in six minutes to battle what neighbours called an "intense" blaze.
Two boys aged three and six years old were given CPR on the street but could not be revived, and a 10-month-old baby girl was also found dead inside the home.
The children's father, Dean Heasman, has since been arrested over the deaths of the children, with police treating the tragedy as a domestic violence attack.
Now, Heasman's grandmother, 82-year-old Neryle Heasman, told Daily Mail Australia she knew her grandson Dean as "a nice child" but said she had been estranged from him in recent years.
"I didn't have a lot to do with him since his father, my son also named Dean, passed away," she said.
"On the odd occasion I saw him, I remember him being a nice child."
Mrs Heasman, who is receiving home palliative care for terminal lung cancer and has six months to live, said she had not met her great-grandchildren.
"I have kept up with his family through photos on Facebook," she said.
But she was stunned to discover he was at the centre of the police investigation into the deadly fire, asking Daily Mail Australia, "Are you sure we're talking about the same Dean?"
A 29-year-old woman, a nine-year-old girl, and three boys aged four, seven and 11 were also in the house during the blaze, but escaped and were rushed to Westmead hospital.
Investigators are now trying to determine what caused the blaze, with reports claiming that Heasman threw a pillow on fire at his partner, which was partially responsible for starting the fire.
Image credits: 7News / Daily Mail Australia