Ash David Millar

Young mother Katie Bruce and her newborn, Ash, were killed in a blaze deliberately lit by Bruce's ex Scott Millar, who also died in the inferno. In the months before he died Scott Millar, 26, was harbouring marijuana in his sister's wardrobe. Susan was unsurprised at her wayward son's latest antics. Scott lived with little care for consequences – for himself or others – Susan admits. The middle of four children, for as long as Susan can remember Scott was always in trouble. At best he was a lost soul who smarted at the smallest slights and acted out when bruised. At worst, he was a perpetuator of horrific violence against a series of girlfriends – a killer. She readily admits he was jealous, and often out of control, prone to bouts of anger. Not long after showing the marijuana to Susan, Scott Millar doused a rural family home in petrol and set it on fire. It killed his partner Katie Bruce and their newborn Ash. It was March 17, 2017. Millar, following a valiant effort by an attending police officer to help him, also died. According to the coronial file released to Stuff, a police sergeant charged with informing Susan Millar a few hours after the blaze was premature in saying her son was dead. He was in hospital on life support, a fact made clear when the hospital phoned asking if Susan wanted to see him before it was switched off. Scott Millar's first dabble with fire, with catastrophic consequences, was before his fourth birthday when he burned down a hay shed on a relative's farm. A serious first relationship turned sour in 2009 after Scott attacked his girlfriend – threw petrol on her and threatened to set her on fire. The girlfriend talked him down and he was jailed. In a letter to his victim, Scott blames drugs. At some point Katie Bruce became aware of her partner's appalling violence against his ex, but believed he had actually set the victim on fire. Katie Rose Bruce was close to celebrating her 21st birthday when she died. The youngest of 11 siblings, she was nicknamed "fritter" by her sister, also a Susan, because she loved potato fritters. Susan says their biological mother wasn't part of their lives and their father died when they were young, leaving Susan to raise Katie. Susan says the two were the only ones from their immediate family who spoke, and they stuck together. Police records show Scott was quickly violent toward Katie, including punching, verbal abuse, threatening to kill. Once he tried to pull an IV drip from her arm during a hospital stay. Katie told police she feared for her life. In 2014, Katie told police, "I don't want to live in fear all the time". At the end of 2016, Ash Millar was born to a delighted Katie, who always wanted to be a mother. But that didn't stop the violence, even as Katie held Ash in her arms. Following that assault, a few days after Christmas and three months before the fire, Katie Bruce reported to police she had left Scott for good, "otherwise he is going to hurt me again". The same day police created a comprehensive safety plan for Katie which took on board the remoteness of her home, the fact Scott wanted contact with Ash, and the fact that the last time they split an agitated Scott had sat outside her house. Around 3am on March 17, 2017, St John, Fire and Emergency and police were called to a fire at a Rangitaiki Highway home, 45km from Taupo. There, they found a naked and badly burned Scott Millar on the lawn, screaming for his son. The permanent occupants, Susan Bruce, her partner and child, escaped the inferno which had quickly enveloped the three-bedroom home. Katie Bruce and Ash were still inside. Millar was taken to Waikato Hospital's intensive care unit, his burns quickly deemed unsurvivable. Fire investigator Stuart Cradock's final report records a lengthy elimination process as to the cause of the blaze at the modest brick and tile home. Petrol was detected on a towel and carpet in the hallway, and the likely point of origin was deemed to be around Katie's body, which was discovered on the floor of the lounge, where she had been sleeping with Ash on the fold out couch. Ash's body was found about a metre away from Katie's. Her body showed signs of more concentrated burning than her son's, wrote Cradock. Ruling out a log fire, cigarettes, electricity and an oil heater, Cradock declared the fire deliberately lit. "I want people to know she was a beautiful mum, she was a beautiful sister, and I would give anything just to have her back." Source: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/111237993/before-the-fire-st...