A Nigerian man, Stanley Obi has died alongside his ex lover broke into his house and set him on fire while children slept in the next room
Stanley Obi, 33, suffered burns to 90 per cent of his body after his former partner Sarah Mudge doused him and his new lover in petrol and set them alight at their home in New Beith, in Brisbane’s southern suburbs, at 3am on Thursday.
Mudge, 30, photographer also died in the blaze while a brave neighbour named Al dragged Stanley’s burning body from the wreckage.
He was raced to Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital in a critical condition, but he sadly died just before 10pm on Thursday – leaving their children orphaned.
Mr Obi’s new girlfriend, 30, managed to escape the burning home along with three kids – aged five, three and two.
Sarah Mudge regularly posted online about how much she adored her family
While police are still trying to piece together exactly what transpired in the lead up to the attack, it has been revealed Mudge had been angry about the outcome of a court hearing a day earlier, The Courier Mail reported.
Mudge’s Facebook profile is filled with photos and gushing posts about her children, including one saying her children gave her strength during tough times.
‘When you have no strength left, you have your children, when you are tired they energize you, and when your heart is in mourning they bring joy to your soul. To my babies I thank you for choosing me,’ she wrote.
‘The ones I have now, and the ones I am still waiting for, it is all my heart beats for. I am eternally grateful.’
In am oline post, She boasted about her son being a year ahead of his age as she hinted at a acrimonious split with her ex. The pair had a long term relationship which broke down last year.
‘I hope I’m not forced through family court to send him to school to essentially repeat the year and hold him back. But there’s not much I can do,’ she wrote.
The website added she was taking a break to have children but planned to reopen her photography studio in 2020.
Nine weeks ago, Mudge posted a chilling, but vague, message to Facebook saying: ‘She’s not toxic bro. You made her like that. Now you think she is crazy.’
Police confirmed Mr Obi and Mudge were known to police while they were living together previously in another area.
It is understood Mr Obi had built the home last year.
Neighbours Scott and Michelle, told Daily Mail Australia the dying man frantically tried to knock on everyone’s doors on the street – but no one woke up.
‘He knocked on a few doors and the guy the next house over did the same. I think he knocked on a few doors across the street,’ Scott said.
Police believe the blaze at the Bidyan Boulevard property is suspicious and are investigating whether it is the result of a domestic violence incident
Another neighbour told the Courier Mail that he worked hard to get everyone – including Mudge – out of the burning house.
‘I tried to get everyone out of there through the side of the house, and then someone said there’s a lady in there so I tried to go back in but it was too significantly burnt already, I couldn’t get in,’ he said.
Mr Obi was a professional nurse and knew his burns were life-threatening.
‘He said to me, ‘I’m not going to make it, I’m going to die, I’m going to die, you need to help me. Help me,’ the neighbour recalled.
Emergency services were called to the Bidyan Boulevard property at New Beith, south of Brisbane, around 3am on Thursday morning
‘He was giving me his hand, reaching out to me to hold it, and I wasn’t going to hold his hand because I know about infection control.’ Mr Obi’s friend said he and his new partner built their new dream home last year, and only moved in late October.
His shattered family said ‘this is too much to bear’ and that he had been the ‘happiest he’s ever been’.
Superintendent White said there is no evidence that a Molotov cocktail was thrown, and believe Mudge ‘somehow gained entry and then once in there was able to throw petrol around’.
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Firefighters spent more than two hours trying to douse the flames.
Police said Mr Obi and his new partner had lived in the house for about six months.
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