Court hears attempted murder victim felt ‘extremely trapped’ in relationship with man who set her on fire
A Hobart man soon to be sentenced for setting his ex on fire wanted “to make good to her his promise that if he didn’t have her, no one else could”, a court has heard. LATEST >>
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Prosecution counsel has argued a Hobart man soon to be sentenced for setting his ex on fire wanted “to make good to her his promise that if he didn’t have her, no one else could”.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared in the Supreme Court of Tasmania on Friday as parties made submissions to help the judge determine an adequate sentence.
A jury last week found the man guilty of attempted murder after a nearly seven-week trial detailed the violent relationship between him and his victim.
Their tumultuous relationship ended after April 24, 2017 when the man set fire to his then girlfriend in his father’s shed in Chigwell, inflicting burns to 68 per cent of her body.
Prosecution lawyer Linda Mason told the court the crime has had a “profound and lifelong” impact on the young woman, including a post-traumatic stress disorder diagnosis, and the need to move interstate for ongoing treatment.
“She’s now severely compromised in the ability of the body to thermoregulate,” Ms Mason said.
“She had to move away from her friends, her job, her prospects of future study and her immediate family members.”
Ms Mason argued the man had fostered a relationship of “domination” and “significant power imbalance” leading up to his attempt to take her life.
“The actions of the accused were intended to subdue her, cause submission, cause intense fear and to subjugate her,” Ms Mason said.
Ms Mason said in her submissions the woman was trying to end the relationship that night.
“She was feeling extremely trapped and powerless in the relationship,” Ms Mason said.
“She didn’t want to be there, she wanted to leave and she wanted to end the relationship.”
The man’s defence lawyer Greg Richardson rejected this version of events.
Mr Richardson said in his submissions the woman had left her bag and belongings in her then boyfriend’s bedroom metres from the shed, suggesting she was not ending the relationship.
“The only explanation is that she would be staying in that bedroom that night,” Mr Richardson said.
He said the jury did not confirm which of the pair had poured petrol over her in the lead up to the fire.
“You cannot exclude that she had poured the fuel on herself in some kind of gesture,” Mr Richardson said.
Justice Michael Brett said there was a “fair bit” of evidence against the claim she poured it on herself.
“I have to proceed on the basis that he applied a lit flame to her with the intention to take her life,” Mr Brett said.
“It just doesn’t fit.”
Mr Richardson said the defendant acted immediately to save the woman.
Ms Mason said the man had helped to extinguish the flames, but she claimed he did so partly to lessen his criminal culpability.
“His actions afterwards suggest the intention (to kill) was short-lived,” she said.
Ms Mason said the victim claimed in her evidence the man had asked her soon after the incident to lie about how she caught fire, with Ms Mason claiming this meant he was motivated by self-preservation.
Justice Brett said once the man flicked the lighter, “catastrophic injury and the real potential of death was inevitable”.
“It was an escalation of controlling behaviour,” he said.
Justice Brett adjourned the matter. He will sentence the man on December 9.
Jury finds man guilty of setting his ex on fire, attempted murder
November 18, 2021
A Hobart man has been found guilty of setting his ex-girlfriend alight in his father’s shed in a bid to kill her, after he had told the court the fire was an accident.
The jury handed down its verdict on Thursday following a complex Supreme Court of Tasmania trial lasting nearly seven weeks.
The jurors endured hours of heated audio recordings of the pair swearing at and verbally abusing one another.
In some recordings screams and loud slams were heard, with the young woman begging her then boyfriend to “let me go”.
After a seven-hour deliberation, the jurors decided via majority verdict the man was guilty of attempted murder.
In late 2016 after not having seen her boyfriend for some months as he was in prison, the woman told the court she was “doing well for myself and I had just hoped (he) wasn’t going to bring me down again”.
She decided to write a letter, “in case something major did happen”, about how he made her feel.
“I can’t escape, I can’t get away,” the letter read.
But the couple resumed their relationship and filled out a notice of intended marriage when he left prison.
On the morning of April 24, 2017 the man had met with his then girlfriend after she had finished her night shift.
The woman claimed in her evidence she had wanted to end the relationship and he had tried to talk her out of it.
That night, the pair headed to the man’s father’s shed on a property in Chigwell.
The woman claimed she had tried to break up with the man but he stopped her from leaving the shed.
She claimed the pair was hitting each other when the man splashed accelerant onto her back and he asked her to head inside his father’s house to wash the petrol off her body and chat with him – an offer which she said she refused, as she instead tried to leave the property.
“I had gone to walk outside the garage towards the door and when I was getting closer to (him) all I remember was the lighter being flicked by him,” the woman had previously claimed in court.
The jurors were required to determine whether they thought beyond reasonable doubt that the man definitely did flick the lighter onto his then partner, and whether or not he did so with the intention to kill her. The jury found the man guilty.
The woman suffered burns to 68 per cent of her body and was in an induced coma following the incident. The man sustained burns to his hands and had hosed her down in his dad’s backyard.
Defence lawyer Greg Richardson said in court on Tuesday the jury had an “enormous” amount of evidence to consider which painted the picture of a couple who was jealous of each other, and physically and verbally abusive to one another.
Evidence included heated verbal and physical arguments between the pair on recorded phone calls, police interviews, CCTV footage and witness statements from people who had seen physical exchanges between the couple in public.
Some audio recordings were played of the man yelling “you f***ing mutt” and “f***ing mole” at his then girlfriend.
Earlier in the case, a witness told the court she recalled driving past the couple’s car after it pulled over “suddenly and erratically”.
She claimed she saw the man “holding her by the hair or the neck” as he struck her with his fist.
Another two women told the court during the trial they drove past the man hitting at the driver’s door of a car, with one woman describing him as “quite scary looking” and “very aggressive”.
Justice Michael Brett discharged the jury of their duty. He adjourned the matter to reappear in court next Thursday.
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