Victorian Father’s Twisted Crime: Pleads Guilty to Burning Wife Alive in Front of Seven Kids
- Victorian father Roland Griffiths, 41, has pleaded guilty to murdering his wife Kylie in a horrific petrol-fueled blaze at their Albanvale home.
- The court heard Griffiths was “drunk on Jack Daniels and control” when he doused his wife in petrol and set her alight in front of their seven children.
- The family’s young daughter, who was severely burned trying to save her mother, revealed the harrowing moment she woke up from a coma to learn of her mother’s death.
Roland Griffiths’s guilty plea has brought to light the shocking details of the crime that has left his family traumatised and the community reeling. On that fateful day in 2022, Griffiths’s actions would change the lives of his seven children forever.
The court heard that Griffiths had a history of violence and making threats to burn down the house. Crown Prosecutor Erin Ramsay highlighted Griffiths’s lack of remorse, citing his lies to police and his attempts to paint himself as the hero in the moments after the fire.
“I pulled her out of the house, I didn’t even know there was a fire,” Griffiths told police, a statement that has been widely condemned as a blatant attempt to deceive.
In heart-wrenching testimony, one of Griffiths’s daughters revealed the moment she begged her father to stop, only to watch in horror as he looked her in the eye and flicked the lighter. “He went over with a lighter, looked (the child) in the eye and flicked it. She said after that it all went red,” the court heard.
Another daughter, who was severely burned trying to save her mother, recounted the moment she woke up from a coma to learn of her mother’s death. “When I woke up from the coma I knew before anyone told me that my mum had died,” she said, her words a haunting reminder of the family’s unimaginable pain.
Justice Champion will sentence Griffiths before Christmas, with the Crown calling for a life sentence. As the family prepares to face the reality of Griffiths’s punishment, one thing is clear: the trauma inflicted on this family will never be fully healed.
In a poignant reminder of the horror that Griffiths has unleashed, his own young son crystallised the family’s pain. “I miss my Mum’s kisses at night, that’s bad what Daddy did to my Mummy,” he said, his words a heartbreaking testament to the enduring impact of Griffiths’s twisted crime.