RELATED CONTENT: No jail for man who set fire to house with his fiance inside
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EVERY year Maddi Arnold’s family will celebrate her birthday and set a place for her at Christmas.
But their daughter and sister will never be there for the family gatherings.
In August last year Maddi, 26, was woken by a house fire deliberately lit by her fiance Jacob Hein. Three weeks later as Maddi drove home from visiting her mother and father in hospital she was tragically killed in a Portland car accident.
On May 19 Hein pleaded guilty in the Warrnambool Magistrates Court to arson. He was convicted and placed on a 12 month community corrections order. In sentencing, Magistrate Cynthia Toose said she could only deal with matters relating to criminal damage and not the person.
For Maddi’s family the sentence left them confused and angry. Her father, Ian Leck, said he expected more serious charges, including reckless conduct endangering death, to proceed. “When it was finished we just couldn’t believe it,” he said.
Maddi’s mother, Jenny Arnold, said that because her daughter had died she didn’t get the chance to stand up for herself in court.
“It was a shock, what was the point,” she said. “She died for nothing. Nothing.”
After the fire Maddi’s sister Jade said Maddi was afraid of being alone in the family home and was having difficulty sleeping. “She was exhausted mentally and physically... she didn’t want to go to sleep,” she said.
For Jenny the memory of seeing Maddi after she died was something she couldn’t forget. “She was swaddled like a little baby and it was lovely... Maddi looked asleep, that’s the picture I’ve got still,” she said. “Life is totally stuffed now, I just wanted to die when she died… I just couldn’t cope, and we still don’t.”
She said Maddi had her faults but described her as a doting daughter and caring soul who loved animals. “Maddi wasn’t a gentle little flower but she didn’t deserve that,” she said.
For Jade the loss of her sister has meant her daughter, Harper, will never truly know her aunty. “I was lucky I got to dress her when she was born and when she passed away,” she said. “She always saw the best in people and would try to help anyone.”
A spokesman for the Office of Public Prosecutions said the matter was carefully considered and the appropriate charges were settled.