This was published 7 years ago
60 Minutes: Failed 'child recovery' reporter Tara Brown returns with Rozelle blast story
By Josh Dye
Controversial 60 Minutes presenter Tara Brown made her return to the program on Sunday night but there was no mention of the failed Lebanon child snatching incident that led to her absence.
Ms Brown hosted a story on the Rozelle fire in 2014 that killed three people. In June, convenience store owner and arsonist Adeel Ahmad Khan was convicted of murder and manslaughter over the fire.
Tara Brown returned to 60 Minutes on Sunday night. Credit: Channel Nine
Channel Nine heavily promoted the segment - billed as the 'story of the year' - which featured Ms Brown's return to the reporter's role.
Some social media commentators criticised Nine for making the story about Ms Brown, rather than the fire victims.
Adeel Khan leaves the NSW Supreme Court in a prison van.Credit: Daniel Munoz
But others praised her sensitive handling of a tragic story.
Ms Brown's story detailed the Rozelle blaze, which occurred in the early hours of September 4, 2014, killing three people: Chris Noble, who lived above the shop, and Bianka O'Brien and her 11-month-old son Jude, who lived next door to Mr Noble.
Mr Khan, the convenience store owner who set fire to the building to claim an insurance payout, has repeatedly denied lighting the fire. He claimed he was being robbed and managed to escape from the supposed assailants. He is awaiting sentencing for the deaths of the three victims.
Fire experts said an estimated 22 to 28 litres of petrol was used to douse the shop. Mr Khan created petrol bombs, which he joined together using petrol soaked rags.
Todd Fisher and Corey Cameron escaped from the explosion and fire that rocked their Rozelle home. Their flatmate Chris Noble died.Credit: Daniel Munoz
It took him more than five hours to prepare the explosion. When the blast occurred, he was among the injured as it occurred soon after he lit the fuse and before he could escape. Police sniffer dogs found the cigarette lighter they believe Mr Khan used to start the blaze.
Mr Noble's housemates, Todd Fisher and Corey Cameron, recalled waking up in terror. They banged on Chris's door, and thinking he was behind them, broke through a glass door and jumped 1.5 metres to safety on a neighbouring rooftop.
Bianka and Jude O'Brien also died in the blaze.Credit: Facebook
"If we didn't get out back, there's no way [we would have survived]," Mr Fisher said.
Trapped inside his room, Mr Noble sent a text to his mum at 4:08am saying: "I love you."
She replied when she woke: "I love you too. What are you doing awake at 4?!" But she never received a reply.
Ms O'Brien's father and baby Jude's grandfather, Bill Keremelevski, said it was hard to forgive Mr Khan, who he described as having "ice going through his veins". "Maybe it would've been different if he came out and said, "You know what, look, I'm sorry.'
But Mr Keremelevski found solace in the aftermath of the fire. "During those dark times and dark days, and during those dark hours in those dark ages, I saw a ray of sunshine," he said. "There's a lot of good people. That's what keeps us going."
Since the fire, Mr Fisher has returned to his family's farm in Canowindra in NSW's central west. "I don't sleep very much. I have bad flashbacks. I remember in the middle of the night I'd wake up I'd be out a window, and the first thing trying to get out a window."
Meanwhile, 60 Minutes faces a nervous wait after child recovery agent Adam Whittington, who was part of the botched Lebanon episode, indicated he would tell his side of the story as he prepared to leave Lebanon.
"Finally, finally the the truth is coming out, very soon, don't worry about that."