Penelope Travers, who sustained burns over a quarter of her body, is now facing weeks of recovery after undergoing an extensive surgical procedure. The impact of her injuries means she will be unable to return to work for the foreseeable future.
The incident occurred at 4 a.m. when an explosion rocked Travers’ garage in Mandurah, a suburb south of Perth. The blast forced her to flee into the early morning darkness, her pants engulfed in flames.
The explosion was triggered when a spray paint can erupted in her face as she attempted to protect her home earlier this year. “It felt like being fried, flesh fried, instant, quick, just burn,” Travers recounted, describing the harrowing ordeal.
For 17 painful days, Travers, a single mother of two, was confined to a hospital bed in the specialized burns unit at Fiona Stanley Hospital. She endured a grueling series of surgeries and blood transfusions, all while swathed in thick dressings from head to toe.
For 17 agonising days the single mother-of-two lay in a hospital bed in the burns unit at Fiona Stanley Hospital.
She was covered head-to-toe in thick dressings in between undergoing surgery and blood transfusions.
“Both my arms, the backs of my hands and the top of my foot have all had skin grafts,” she said.
It wasn’t until later police told her it was a targeted attack.
Someone had thrown a fire bomb at her car but it bounced off, instead setting the garage on fire.
As she recovered in hospital the attackers came back to finish the job.
Her ute was set alight while her 16-year-old daughter was home alone.
“This brought something traumatic to my doorstep and I couldn’t protect my children from seeing this or dealing with this,” she said.
“They’re still having nightmares.”
Mandurah detectives are investigating both fire attacks, which are being treated as suspicious
Anyone with information is urged to contact police.
Travers is sore and itchy, but recovering but with no way to work, she’s started a fundraiser to help pay the bills and aid the long road to recovery.
“I am originally from NZ but have called Australia home for almost 15 years,” she wrote on the online fundraiser.
“Unfortunately, being a Kiwi means the Australian Government has very few financial supports available to me.Â
“I have been granted a temporary benefit but it does not cover my rent, let alone any other monthly expenses.”
