James Swan Palakamannil’s heart aches as he remembers his three-year-old daughter, Carolyn, eagerly pulling a chair to the door to greet him home from work each day. She, adorned in her favorite pink dress, would beam with excitement. Carolyn was her father’s special baby, while her six-year-old sister, Evlyn, was his special girl. However, on March 24, 2022, an unimaginable tragedy shattered their lives.
Thomas, their mother, drove the girls to an isolated location and poured petrol on them all, setting the car ablaze in a fatal act of family violence. The fire claimed the lives of Thomas and her daughters.
“Suddenly, there is no one waiting for me at the door,” Palakamannil sobbed in the Coroners Court of Victoria. “I’m now living in an empty and silent house.”
State coroner John Cain determined that Thomas intentionally killed herself and the girls after becoming withdrawn and isolated from her community. Palakamannil recounted that on the tragic night, he found the girls playing on a mobile phone and his wife in bed when he arrived home. She informed him that she was taking the girls to McDonald’s, but CCTV footage revealed a different story.
Thomas purchased a fuel container at a service station in Cranbourne West and then drove to the McDonald’s car park, where she remained parked until around 7:30 pm. Less than 10 minutes later, fire crews responded to a burning car nearby.
The investigation uncovered that a significant amount of petrol had been poured throughout the car.
Palakamannil and Thomas had met online through a website for arranged marriages and married in India in 2012. Originally from Kuwait, they relocated to Australia and gained permanent residency in 2015.
Thomas worked as a nurse at Melbourne hospitals, but her husband shared that she developed post-natal depression and became increasingly paranoid during the COVID-19 pandemic. She unexpectedly resigned from Mulgrave Private Hospital in 2021 but continued casual work at Dandenong Hospital.
Palakamannil’s heart sank as he described the harrowing aftermath of the fire. “My oldest daughter, Evlyn, brought us so much happiness,” he said. “She was the boss of the house. She wore the pants.”
He expressed regret that his late wife, Jasmine, had not sought help when she struggled to connect with people. “When she couldn’t any more … in the process she took out my most prized possessions.”
Palakamannil expressed doubts that he would ever fully recover from burying the three most important people in his life on the same day.
Coroner Cain noted that Thomas had contact with professional services, including police, but found no fault and determined that those agencies had no opportunities to prevent her fatal act. He highlighted her social isolation and disregard for her fears by her extended family.
“Despite child protection and Victoria Police holding concerns about her mental health, as she was not assessed as acutely unwell, and did not wish to engage in services, she did not receive any formal assistance or diagnosis,” Cain said.
