Hero cop who saved girl set on fire by dad speaks out

A heroic police officer has opened up for the first time, describing how she saved two young girls from being burned to death.

Stephanie Bochorsky, 31, was watching television on a Friday night when she heard screams coming from a neighbour’s home in the Perth suburb of Doubleview.

A women in the street outside told Ms Bochorsky a man – Edward Herbert – was inside setting her children on fire.

The off-duty constable rushed into the home where she smelled petrol and saw a three-year-old girl consumed by flames in her cot.

A heroic police officer (pictured, left) has opened up for the first time, describing how she saved two young girls from being burned to death

A women in the street outside told Ms Bochorsky a man - Edward Herbert (pictured) - was inside setting her children on fire

A women in the street outside told Ms Bochorsky a man – Edward Herbert (pictured) – was inside setting her children on fire

‘Her whole head was alight with flames. Above her head [the flames] was probably another metre tall. Her whole face was on fire,’ she told Perth Now.

‘It was something I will never get out of my head. She wasn’t screaming or anything like that. She was just standing up in her cot, moving her head, not knowing where to look or what to do with this shocked look on her face. 

‘To this day, I’m still astounded by her bravery.’

Ms Bochorsky acted fast, throwing a blanket over the burning child and pushing to to the ground in an attempt to put out the flames.

That’s when she noticed Herbert standing there naked, pouring petrol over his seven-year-old daughter.

The large heavily tattooed man stared at her blankly and demanded she take her clothes off.

The off-duty constable (pictured) rushed into the home where she smelled petrol and saw a three-year-old girl consumed by flames in her cot

The off-duty constable (pictured) rushed into the home where she smelled petrol and saw a three-year-old girl consumed by flames in her cot

Shocked by the confronting scene and the smell of burning flesh, she grabbed both girls and ran out of the house with them.

At the time she was unaware Herbert was armed with a butcher’s knife and his six-year-old son was still in the house.

Ms Bochorsky took the injured girl to her home and put her in the bath, seeing the full extent of the young girl’s burns for the first time.

The girl’s hair has been burned away, and she had horrific injuries to her face and body, with her neck looking like it had melted into her chest and her right ear gone. 

After Ms Bochorsky had left the home another neighbour entered and fought off Herbert, who was in a drug-induced psychosis at the time. 

She said that man – Daniel McMillan – is the real hero, and she was just upholding the oath she took at the police academy.

Herbert, who Ms Bochorsky described as ‘gutless’, was sentenced to 17 years in jail after a judge found him guilty in April this year.

Herbert admitted intending to murder the girls in August 2015, but pleaded not guilty to five charges while claiming insanity, a defence rejected by the judge.

The three-year-old suffered burns to 13 per cent of her body and spent months in hospital after the attack.

She has vocal chord and ear damage and will need multiple surgeries over the coming years. 

Ms Bochorsky said the experience still haunts her, leaving her with insomnia, nightmares and flashbacks.

She said she thinks of the victim, now aged six, on a daily basis and hopes the young girl is able to put the experience behind her. 

Herbert (pictured), who Ms Bochorsky described as 'gutless', was sentenced to 17 years in jail after a judge found him guilty in April this year

Herbert (pictured), who Ms Bochorsky described as ‘gutless’, was sentenced to 17 years in jail after a judge found him guilty in April this year

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