By Jono Hutchison
A 60 Minutes investigation has raised questions about the care given to Tonya Bennett - the teenager who burnt down a house, killing her ex-boyfriend's mother.
It has been revealed she drank alcohol, took drugs and had sex before setting the fire - all the while, her caregiver in the lounge.
After spending $400,000 over 16 months, social agencies are now being asked to explain themselves.
Bennett is just beginning her life sentence for a murder she committed while she was just 16. Her former caregivers told 60 Minutes she was heading for trouble much earlier.
"She went out with the wrong crowd," says Leo van der Greer. "She used drugs. She drank a lot."
In 2007 Child Youth and Family (CYFS) contracted Bennett's care to an organisation called Youthlink, which sent her to live with Leo and Karla van der Greer for around a year.
They told Youthlink they were worried about her.
"We told them that she will be killed, or she will kill," says Mr can der Greer.
In a written response, Youthlink's chief executive told 60 Minutes that no warnings about Bennett were passed on to him.
She went on to burn down the house of her ex-boyfriend's mother, who was sleeping inside, by lighting a sweatshirt soaked in absinthe.
In a police interview she admitted she got drunk with friends over several hours, had sex with her boyfriend and self-harmed beforehand.
60 Minutes understands all that time her caregiver was back at the house, but distracted in the lounge with her two young children.
"I'm not aware that there were other children there, but I'm not certain that that would have presented necessarily a difficulty," says Ray Smith of CYFS.
CYFS invested nearly $400,000 into Bennett's care between October 2007 and January 2009.
"Everybody that could invested everything they had in trying to help her, and that's what I expect of people and that's what I ask people to do," says Mr Smith.
Her former caregivers say they're left thinking they could have done more to help if she'd stayed with them.
"This would not have happened, and that's why, in a way, we feel a bit guilty as well. It's strange but we do," says Mr van der Greer.
Bennett was sent to prison last week, and it will be 11-and-a-half years before she can apply for parole.
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