Hostel arson suspect to go on trial

A 38-year-old drifter accused of setting fire to the Australian backpackers’ hostel in which Limerick girl Julie O'Keeffe perished, is due to go on trial on Monday.

Fifteen youngsters were killed on June 23 2000 when an arsonist set fire to the Palace Backpackers Hostel in the farming community of Childers, 190 miles north of Brisbane.

Julie was the only Irish victim. Six of the others were British, four Australian, two Dutch, one Japanese and one a South Korean.

At least 27 backpackers - most of them among the 69 who survived the fire, some by jumping on to nearby roofs to escape - are coming from Europe, the United States, Canada, India and New Zealand to testify at the trial of Robert Long at Brisbane Supreme Court.

‘‘We have had so many bits and pieces to remind us,’’ said John Murtaugh, who owns the Childers Fruit and Garden Centre two shops away from the hostel. ‘‘It just seems to never end, and now we’re going to go through the trial. It will be fantastic when it is all finished.’’

Long, an itinerant fruit picker, was ordered a year ago to stand trial for arson and the murders of 27-year-old twins Kelly and Stacey Slarke from Western Australia state.

Police say they will wait for a verdict on the two murder charges before deciding whether to charge him with the other 13 deaths.

Long faces life in prison if convicted. The trial is expected to take about six weeks and prosecutors say they will call about 160 witnesses.

In Childers, work has begun on a restoration project that will see part of the hostel’s original 100-year-old pub’s facade turned into an art gallery and memorial to those who died there.