A 36-year-old man found asleep inside his car hours after the attack remains in custody after allegedly setting his father alight and killing him at a home in Sydney’s west.
Emergency services were called to the house on Wargon Crescent, Glenmore Park, at about 12.50am on Thursday, after neighbours reported a fire breaking out at the property along with loud disturbances.
Officers attached to Nepean Police Area Command arrived to find the body of a man lying in the driveway of a partially alight home.
Nepean Police Area Commander Superintendent Trent King said the dead father, believed to be aged in his 60s, was yet to be formally identified after sustaining “numerous injuries, including significant burns”.
“I can say that accelerant appears to have been used during the course of the incident,” King said.
Fire and Rescue NSW crews attended and extinguished the blaze, after which detectives established a crime scene and began piecing together the circumstances surrounding the incident.
Police allege the man’s son, who is known to police, carried out the attack after forcing his way into the home in the middle of the night.
“These people appear to be related. However, there’s no history of domestic violence between the two parties,” King said.
The father lived at the Glenmore Park property, while his son resided elsewhere.
“There appears to have been an altercation there between the two parties following a break-and-enter into the premises; the front door was forced,” King said.
Police also allege a blue Holden Commodore parked at the property was deliberately set on fire, with the flames spreading to the house itself.
Nearly six hours after the alleged attack, at about 6.45am, officers found the 36-year-old man asleep inside a car on Parkes Avenue in the nearby suburb of Werrington. He was arrested without incident.
He was treated by NSW Ambulance paramedics for minor injuries to his hands and feet before being taken to Nepean Hospital under police guard. Police said the man cooperated with investigators and, as of the latest update, has not yet been charged with any offence.
Superintendent King described the crime scene as distressing and said detectives would not be drawn on the precise cause of the father’s death, with a post-mortem examination expected to provide answers.
Detectives from the State Crime Command’s Homicide Squad have joined Nepean Police in the investigation, and a report is being prepared for the Coroner.
Police are appealing to anyone with information, or CCTV or dashcam footage from the Glenmore Park area in the early hours of Thursday, to come forward and contact Nepean Police Area Command or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
