John O’Brien lost wise beloved wife Bianka and their 11-month-old baby Jude when a botched insurance job took their lives.
When shopkeeper Adeel Ahmad set fire to his convenience store in the early hours of September 4, 2014, John thought his life would never be normal again.
Speaking to The Sydney Morning Herald for the first time, the grieving father says he has found love again.
“In a lot of ways she’s saved my life,” he said of new partner Michelle Minehan, who was working as a police media advisor on the O’Brien’s case.
“She made me feel like everything was going to be OK. That beautiful person changed my whole outlook on life,” he added.
The couple, who remained friends for some time, are now living together and will welcome their first child in the coming weeks.
“Over time I tried to get it out of him and, once he started talking about Jude and his wife, he was a changed person,” Minehan said.
“Now going to the baby stores, and I know nothing about it all, and he’s talking about Jude every single day now in relation to our baby. He’ll say ‘we have to buy that, Jude loved that’.”
The fire, which erupted and caused an explosion also killed Chris Noble, who also lived in the building and died helping his two housemates.
Khan was sentenced to 40 years in prison with a non-parole period of 30 years.
