Homicide Squad detectives will seek the extradition of a man who was arrested by the Queensland Police Service on a NSW warrant for the 1998 alleged murder of Redfern teenager Arthur Haines.
About 10.30pm on Thursday 9 April 1998, emergency services responded to reports of a fire at a house on Walker Street, Waterloo.
Arthur Haines, aged 13, who was sleeping over at his friend’s house, became trapped on the top floor of the burning home.
The teenager managed to escape the blaze and was taken to The Children’s Hospital at Westmead with severe burns. He died 11 weeks later.
A subsequent forensic examination of the home found the fire had been deliberately lit.
Despite exhaustive inquiries, the matter remained unsolved, and was referred to detectives from the State Crime Command’s Homicide Squad for re-investigation under Strike Force Belemba II in January 2020.
Following extensive inquiries and numerous public appeals for information, strike force detectives applied for and were granted an arrest warrant for a 55-year-old man, who was believed to be interstate.
The man was arrested by detectives from the Queensland Police Service Homicide Investigation Unit at a Brisbane home about 11am yesterday (Wednesday 17 August 2022), before the warrant was executed.
NSW Police detectives have since travelled to Queensland, where they will apply for the man’s extradition to NSW at Brisbane Magistrates Court today (Thursday 18 August 2022).
Further information will only be made available after the extradition has been granted and completed.
