- Spencer Connelly was five years old when he and his older brother Fletcher were set on fire
- His dad loaded open gas bottles into the boot and lit a cigarette, sending the boys up in flames
- Now 13 years on, Spencer has gone on to land a role in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga and speak out about his experience living with scars
Here Spencer,18, Devonport, Tasmania tells his story in his own words.
Munching on my hot salty chips, I smiled.
It was December 2012, and my dad, Paul, 49, had picked me up from childcare and my brother Fletcher from school.
On the way home we stopped in at Macca’s.
‘Thanks Dad,’ we beamed, tucking into our food. I was five, and Fletcher, eight, was my best friend.
Pulling into the backyard of our home in Shorewell Park, Tas, around 5pm, Dad parked behind the house.
He and our mum, Alison, then 34, had recently separated, and she was due to collect us in an hour.
‘We’re going to have a picnic in the car,’ Dad told us, hopping out and grabbing some items from under the house.
‘It’s just a new noise the car’s making.’
He loaded them into the boot, then got back into the driver’s seat.
‘What’s that noise?’ Fletcher questioned, noticing a hissing sound behind us.
‘It’s just a new noise the car’s making,’ Dad replied.
A few minutes passed, then Dad flicked his lighter to have a cigarette.
A loud BOOM rang out, and I was hit with a wall of fire. I screamed in agony as the flames licked my skin.
Scrambling to unbuckle my seatbelt, I then leapt over the centre console to the front seats.
With just two doors on Dad’s Hyundai Getz hatchback, it was the only way out.
Where’s Dad?! I thought, terrified, realising he wasn’t in the blazing car.
READ MORE: ‘Real Life: I Was Set Alight By My Father’
Jumping out the driver’s side door, I saw Fletcher, who’d escaped first, was rolling on the ground, desperately trying to put the flames out.
When he looked at me, his face was melting, and his sandy brown hair was singed.
It was like a nightmare.
I couldn’t see Dad.
Petrified, I started running through the backyard as the flames engulfed my arms, face and legs.
‘Stop!’ Fletcher cried, catching up to me, before holding me down and forcing me to roll while I flailed in the grass.
Looking up at the sky, I thought I was going to die.
‘I thought I was going to die.’
‘You have to get up,’ Fletcher said once the searing flames were finally extinguished, his face looming over me.
Helping one another, we ran to the side gate but it was locked with a chain.
Neighbours had come out when they heard the explosion.
They jumped over the gate to help, while another one broke the lock to free us.
Soon lights flashed as firefighters and an ambulance arrived.
Water was poured over us as a paramedic cut off my clothes.
They also gave us medicine to stop the pain.
As we were loaded into the back of the ambulance, I could see Dad nearby getting help.
READ MORE: ‘I Was A Human Fireball!’
The ride to the local hospital was a blur.
We were taken via plane to Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne.
When I woke again, I was wrapped in bandages, like a mummy.
Mum was by my side, while Fletcher was on the other side of her in his own hospital bed.
‘I’m so glad you’re alive,’ Mum cried, taking our hands gently in hers.
She explained I’d been in a coma for two weeks.
I had burns to 30 per cent of my body, including full thickness burns on my face, inside my mouth, ears, around my neck, right shoulder, and hands. My knees were also badly burned.
Fletcher’s burns affected about 28 per cent of his body.
The worst were to his face, ears, hands, and elbows.
Over the next five months, Fletcher and I had 25 operations between us, including painful skin grafts, to repair our bodies.
Through it all, Mum never left our sides.
When we were finally discharged, in April 2013, we moved to a new home in Devonport.
‘I’m so glad you’re alive.’
Fletcher and I had to wear compression garments for our burns and visit the hospital regularly.
Two months later, we started at a new school.
Mostly kids were nice, but sometimes they would stare.
READ MORE: ‘Mum’s Horror: I Fell Into Our BBQ!’
‘Why do you look like that?’ they’d ask.
Fletcher was my rock through everything.
Having someone else who looked like me made life easier, and we’d support one another through physio, operations and the mental toll.
But being so young, I struggled to fully understand what had happened.
A month after the incident, Dad, Paul Brian Edward Connelly, had been charged with two counts of attempted murder but he denied it all.
When his trial began in December 2013, our father, then 50, claimed the fire was an accident, after he’d lit a cigarette too close to leaking gas bottles.
However, the court heard that Dad had told someone the night before the attack that he planned to blow up the house while my brother and I slept.
The next day Dad had loaded the two gas bottles into the car, opened the valves and struck a lighter.
Fletcher, then nine, bravely gave evidence about the day our lives changed forever.
Thankfully, the jury saw through Dad’s awful lies, taking just one hour to find him guilty.
In handing down his sentence, Chief Justice Alan Blow stated my father had shown almost no remorse for his actions, which were done to spite our mum, following their split.
‘He was their father, with a duty to protect them,’ he said. ‘Attempting to kill them involved the worst possible breach of trust…
‘I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that [he] decided to kill the boys in order to deprive his wife of them… he decided to kill the boys in order to spite his wife.’
‘Thankfully, the jury saw through Dad’s awful lies’
Dad was sentenced to 20 years in jail, with a 15-year non-parole period. I was glad he wouldn’t be able to hurt anyone else.
Following an appeal in June 2015, his non-parole period was reduced to 12 years.
By then, Mum had found love again with my stepdad, Christian, then 44.
I was so happy when they married in February 2016. He encouraged Fletcher and me to follow our passions, such as soccer and drama club.
When I was 14, thanks to my involvement with charity KIDS Foundation, who support children and families who have experienced trauma and injuries, I landed a role in the Hollywood blockbuster Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, playing Rakka The Brakkish.
Fletcher and I had first discovered KIDS Foundation in August 2013, when Mum saw they ran camps where kids who’ve suffered burns can connect.
Meeting Chris Hemsworth at the premiere of the movie in May 2024 in Sydney was incredible.
But even better was connecting with others on set who also had facial differences and starred in the film too.
Some of them have become my closest friends.
I hope one day to be back in front of the camera.
Over the last 13 years, I’ve had more than 50 surgeries, and undergone intensive physiotherapy and speech therapy.
I’m currently in the process of getting prosthetic ears as mine were burned off.
Thanks to the support of Mum, now 48, my stepdad, Christian, 57, and Fletcher, 22, I know I’m lucky to be alive.
I’ve come to learn that my scars aren’t something to feel ashamed of, they represent my strength and I’m proud of that.
If you’ve been affected by this story call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 (Aus) or 0800REFUGE on 0800 733 843 (NZ)
