Authorities are looking for a mother charged over the death of two children in a fire, after she failed to attend court and has not reported to police in weeks.
A magistrate issued a warrant for the arrest of Shania Lee on Thursday morning, about four months after she was released on bail.
The 27-year-old woman has been charged with two counts of negligent manslaughter and one of negligently causing serious injury, after the September 2024 house fire.
A fire alarm sounded minutes after Lee left her three children aged under five home alone, prosecutors told a court previously.
Two young girls, a one-year-old and a five-year-old, were killed after fire engulfed the Sydenham property, in Melbourne’s northwest.
Lee’s three-year-old son survived but suffered injuries.
She was freed on bail in September, despite prosecutors objecting as she posed a risk to the safety of the community, had contravened bail and avoided police in the past.
On Thursday morning, Lee’s defence lawyer Nisha Patel told Melbourne Magistrates Court she had not been able to reach her client but spoke to her last week about today’s court date.
Prosecutors applied for a warrant for Lee’s arrest as she had not been complying with several bail conditions, including that she had not reported to police since December 22, the court was told.
The prosecutor said there were several new charges to be filed against Lee relating to breaches of bail conditions.
Lee had been bailed to an address in Moama, NSW, was required to report to police in Echuca three days a week and notify police if she changed address.
Ms Patel said Lee had offered to surrender herself into police custody this week but did not receive a response back and then prosecutors filed an application to revoke her bail.
Magistrate Kieran Gilligan said “given the serious nature of the charges” he would need to issue a warrant.
“If she was wanting to hand herself in, she could have handed herself into any police station,” the magistrate said.
After the warrant was issued, her bail was forfeited and the matter was adjourned to a date to be fixed.
Lee’s co-accused, her former partner Matthew McAuliffe, was charged with negligent manslaughter in September last year.
However, the case against him was discontinued in November as he died while on bail.
