A grieving mother who lost her twin girls in a fire caused by an unattended candle is once again calling for an inquest as she shared new harrowing details about the tragedy.
It has been 18 months since Akira Garton’s four-year-old daughters Ophelia and Tarrow died in a township in northern NSW while in the care of their father.
The girls were sleeping in a bedroom in a Goonengerry commune near Byron Bay in November 2021 when a painting and burning candles just meters away fell on a piano.
The girls were engulfed in the toxic fumes and suffocated as their father James Wright sat with others at an outdoor bonfire party 50 yards away, unaware of the unfolding tragedy until he went to check on them.
Ms Garton says several questions remain, despite coroner Karen Stafford stating earlier this year that the twins’ deaths were accidental.
Mrs. Garton awoke on her 35th birthday to being smothered with hugs and kisses from Ophelia, Tarrow and their seven-year-old sister before dropping the girls off at her estranged partner’s house the next day.
The next time she saw the twins was in a morgue at Tweed Heads Hospital, the place where they had been born prematurely four years earlier.
Akira Garton has demanded more answers about the deaths of her twins Ophelia and Tarrow
“It was f***ed because I born them here,” Ms Garton told The Project.
“That ride, we’re not going to the maternity ward, we’re going to the morgue.
“And I couldn’t touch them because they were behind the glass screen. And that really hurt me. I couldn’t even be with them.
“I just screamed and I screamed so loud.”
It was later discovered that the smoke detector in the bedroom where the girls slept had been turned off while the battery was removed.
Ms Garton says it’s one of many unanswered questions about her twin’s death.
“I don’t think they (the police) have investigated it thoroughly enough at all,” she said.
Coroner Karen Stafford ruled in January that she was satisfied there were no suspicious circumstances and did not believe an inquest was necessary.
“While leaving an open flame in a room with a child, no adult supervision and no effective smoke alarm are a safety issue, there is no wider public safety issue,” the coroner ruled.
Ophelia and Tarrow suffocated when they slept after a burning candle fell on a piano
The coroner’s decision devastated Mrs. Garton.
Ophelia and Tarrow died while staying with their father and his new girlfriend
“I called them and just went for it,” she said.
“I asked, ‘what if these were your children, would you be happy if they were left alone?’
‘Would you be happy if this happened?
‘Why don’t you answer the questions? No one could give me an answer.’
Mrs. Garton remembered little Ophelia as a very caring soul and the glue that held the family together.
Her younger twin Tarrow was more fragile and needed more protection.
Of her last day spent with Ophelia and Tarrow, Mrs. Garton recalled, “I felt a hope I hadn’t felt for a long time. They were so happy, they clucked their heads off.’
Ms Garton fled to Sydney after the twins’ deaths and recently returned to the hinterland of Byron Bay for the first time since the tragedy.
“So this is where it happened, it was in a shack called the Love Shack down the street from here,” she said.
“I never thought I’d be standing here and having to tell a story where two people no longer exist.”
Ms Garton hopes sharing her heartbreaking story will serve as a warning to other parents.
“There are some real basics to parenting and living,” she said.
“You don’t leave any open flame with children unattended. It’s the 101s.’
Akira Garton broke down in a TV interview when she remembered seeing her twins’ bodies in a morgue where they were born four years earlier
Mrs. Garton remembered little Ophelia as a very caring soul and the glue that held the family together. Her younger twin Tarrow was more fragile and needed more protection
Ms Garton says her twins (pictured as babies) deserve an inquest into their deaths
Ms Garton said her relationship with the twins’ father, political activist James Wright, is now very minimal and “strained”.
In a statement to The Project, Mr Wright said he believes the coroner has conducted a thorough and impartial investigation.
He remains devastated and heartbroken over the tragedy.
“I share the overwhelming and unforgiving grief with Akira and our families. My focus now is on our precious eldest daughter, finding a way to rebuild our lives and learning to somehow live each day without our sweet twins,” Mr. Wright’s statement read.
NSW Coroner Karen Stafford conducted a thorough and impartial investigation into their heartbreaking deaths, including expert input from police and medical professionals.
“We are eternally grateful for the tremendous ongoing support from our community, as well as from the first responders, who were extremely professional and showed immense empathy and compassion.”
Mrs. Garton has one online petition calling for an inquest into the death of her twins, which has garnered 16,000 signatures in four weeks.
“I have been silent for exactly 18 months out of respect for the police investigation, but now I am calling on the Attorney General of NSW to step in to ensure there is a thorough and transparent investigation into the fire,” the petition reads.
“More can be done to prevent future tragedies, in the hills around Byron Bay there is an entrenched culture of people burning candles and incense, turning off smoke detectors or failing to install them.
“Almost a year and a half after my kids died, I feel like the system would rather pretend my kids don’t exist.
“A judicial inquiry is the bare minimum my two beautiful little girls deserve.”
Ms Garton has launched an online petition calling for a judicial inquiry into the death of her twins, which has garnered 16,000 signatures in four weeks