Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Matt Hepworth spoke with Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Brett Cottier on the Oriental Emporium Fire

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Matt Hepworth spoke with Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Brett Cottier on the Oriental Emporium Fire · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Police believe the alleged arsonust behind the Oriental Emporium fire
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: may have suffered burns as a result of the blaze.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: New footage reveals the moment the offender allegedly set fire
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: to the building. It's believed they may have sought treatment
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: for those injuries. To talk more about it is detective
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: active detecting Acting Senior Sergeant Brett Kodia, Good morning.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Brad, Good morning Brett.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Can you talk us through this latest footage police have released.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Yes, Look, the footage that has been in the media
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: just shows that the time of the explosion or time
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: of the start of the fire. Police believe that the
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: footage that you see there, the person may have been
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: injured as a result of the start of that fire.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: We are seeking that anyone that has injuries or something
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: like that obviously goes and gets themselves some mental treatment,
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: and also anyone that may know someone that's injured to
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: come forward and let us know we're going to have
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: a talk to them.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: From that footage, how extensive do you think I think
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: that person's injuries are.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: We're not sure. We just may believe that they have
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: injuries at this stage, so we can't confirm whether they
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: have the footage. What you see is what we've seen
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: as well, so you know, it's hard to tell from
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: that short snippet what the injuries would be.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: Are you confident that the latest footage, as I guess,
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: can help narrow down your search and find the offender.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: Well, it certainly gives us a starting point in relation
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: to timeframes and that sort of thing to work out
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: with our other investigatives techniques that we've got going on.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: It's certainly something that will be putting in part of
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: our brief anyway, given.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: It's now clear this was deliberately lead. Is there any
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: indication behind motive that might help you narrow down the
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: search at all.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: No, we don't know what the motive is at this stage. Obviously,
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: we're treating it as an arson and as a suspicious fire,
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: so we're certainly throwing a lot of resources that this
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: to ensure that we get the best possible come And.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: Based on that footage released in what you've seen so far,
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: have you been able to narrow down the identity the
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: offender at all in terms of whether there are a
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: male or female age, or any identifying features at all.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: Now, there is no clear identifying features at this stage.
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: There's obviously things that we might be able to do
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: with the footage at some stage see if we can
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: do some clarity on those particular things, but there's no
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: specific details that we could release to the public at
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: this stage.
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: And is there any indication that anyone else was involved.
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: In this, No, there's no information to suggest anyone else
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: at this stage, but certainly we'd be open to any
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: information that the public has to come forward and talk
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: with us. We've certainly done a lot of work around
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: that area, including using the recruits the other day that
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: we did a line search through the whole area, and
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: we're certainly working with our crime scenes, fire investigators and
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: the whole range of others to try and narrow down
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: as much as we can.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: Brett, what's the latest on the site at the Oriental Emporium?
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: Is it still a crime scene?
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: No, we had closed the crime scene on late on
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: the Friday. It is closed off now. It's the private
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: security in place. And I believe I haven't been there
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: in recent times, say or so, but I believe the
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: building is unstructurally not very sounds, so therefore it's probably
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: a total demolition.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that was going to be my next question. Will
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: it have to be completely torn down?
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it appears that way from the rear part of
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: the building where the fire had started. Extensive damage to
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: that part and then the rest of the building has
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: extensive smoke damage, millions of dollars worth of damage and
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: obviously we'll hurt a small business up there, Brett.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: Where can people access this latest footage that police released yesterday, so.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: That's the latest one is obviously through the irrelevant media
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: outlet from that sort of thing. We don't have a
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: website where we're releasing it ourselves at this stage, but
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: what the small amount is it's available at the stage.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: Obviously mentioned there is two lots of footage going around
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: at the moment I saw that Channel nine were able
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: to obtain some footage as well. Are you still putting
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: a call out for more CCTV footage or have those
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: resources kind of been exhausted now.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: We have had our detectives do door knocks around the
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: irrelevant areas to try and source more CCTV. Nothing further
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: has come forward in the stage. We certainly encourage anybody
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: who was driving around in those areas or has other
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: footage in their vehicles taxis and anyone that's mobile at
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: those that time of the morning two forty five on
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: the Thursday of the eighth of October, to just check
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: their footage and just see if they've seen anybody in
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  Speaker 2: the area that might be suspicious, hanging around or doing
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: something that's unusual.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: Breton, I've read conflicting reports as to whether their damage
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: was sustained to any neighboring buildings. Do you know if
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: that's the case.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: I've got no information says that. I believe it was
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: contained to the Oriental Emporium. There is another adjoining business there,
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: but I don't believe they're impacted.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: What's next for police in the investigation now.
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: We've still got detectives working the area. We've got a
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: lot of information to go through, including CCTV. We've still
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: got to talk with our crime scene examiners and fire investigators.
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: They've got to do with their reports. So we'll have
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: a case conference with all those people shortly and hopefully
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: as a result of everybody's information, we may come up
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: with something new.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: Do you think there's a chance that this offender could
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: turn themselves in? Given the high profile nature of this case.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: We certainly hope so someone out there in the public
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: does know something, so we do words the person has
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: done this to come forward and certainly we will have
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: a chat with them and see what's going on. And
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: also anyone, any family members or anyone that knows any information.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: We certainly are kind of cast in it white to
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: try and get as much information as we can.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Brett Cottie, thank you
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: so much for your time this morning.
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: No worries. Thank you very much, Matte And of course,
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: if you.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: Do have any information that can assist police, whether that
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: be CCTV footage or dash can footage, if you were
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: driving past the blaze at the time, I'm sure they
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: would greatly appreciate that. So do you have any further information,
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: make sure you get in contact with police.