Woman recounts going ‘up in flames’ amid ex-boyfriend’s alleged attempted murder trial
A woman has recounted through tears the night her body was engulfed in flames in her then-boyfriend’s shed.
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A woman has recounted through tears the night her body was engulfed in flames in her then-boyfriend’s shed.
The young woman also shared details of the alleged threats her ex-boyfriend made to kill her, including saying he would throw her into a pig farm and hang her.
A jury observed a prerecorded interview of the woman in the Supreme Court of Tasmania on Thursday at the trial of her ex-boyfriend, who is fighting an attempted murder charge.
When asked if her ex had ever threatened to kill her during their relationship, the woman began to cry.
“He had threatened to throw me into a farm of pigs,” she claimed in the interview.
“On the second occasion he said that he would hang me but make it look like a suicide.
“He would get me to write a letter beforehand, a suicide letter, and play music and set photos up around me.”
In late 2016 after not having seen her boyfriend for some months, 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.
The woman told the court she put the letter in her makeup box.
The relationship resumed and the pair filled out a notice of intended marriage, but the woman alleged her then partner was still “paranoid” and “controlling”.
She had allegedly threatened to end the relationship “a few times”.
“He said that if he couldn’t have me then nobody else could,” she claimed.
After finishing her night shift on the morning of April 24, 2017, the couple met to talk. The woman claimed 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 he locked the door and the pair were hitting each other.
“I turned my back to (him) and I felt a splash,” she claimed.
“I knew it was petrol because of the smell.
“He was saying to go inside and get cleaned up, but I wanted to go inside my own house and do that.
“I just agreed with him to go inside his house and get changed because I just needed the petrol off of me.
“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 cried as she recalled the horror of having “gone up in flames”.
“I just remember thinking that (he) couldn’t get the door open and I thought we were both going to die in the garage and it was going to explode.”
But the pair escaped the shed. The woman claimed she had asked him to hose her down, which he did.
She alleged he told her he was “going to go to jail for a very, very long time” if she didn’t say what happened was an accident.
Severely burned, she was rushed to hospital in an ambulance and entered an induced coma, regaining consciousness about two months later in the Alfred Hospital, Melbourne.
She had a breathing tube for about a month, and needed a walking frame and physiotherapy to learn to walk again.
The woman weighed just over 37kg and had burns everywhere except her feet, her right hand, right forearm and some of her face.
She remained at the hospital for three months before spending two months at Caulfield Rehabilitation.
A recorded phone call was played where the man told her he loved her, and said “babe, you’re the one that flicked the lighter – do you not remember?”
The trial will continue on Friday, when the woman will be cross-examined by defence lawyer Greg Richardson.
Earlier in the trial, Mr Richardson told the jury the incident had been the result of a “highly emotionally disturbed young woman who was making suicide threats that went wrong”.
‘Controlling’: Alleged attempted murder victim describes relationship with ex-boyfriend
A woman who was allegedly set alight by her ex-boyfriend has shared some of her evidence of his alleged “controlling” behaviour with the jury at his trial.
An excerpt of the woman’s prerecorded witness interview was played at the Supreme Court of Tasmania on Wednesday.
Her ex-boyfriend has pleaded not guilty to allegedly throwing diesel and petrol over her in early 2017 and flicking his lighter on after she had made threats to end their relationship.
The man’s defence lawyer Greg Richardson claims the woman’s burns were the result of a “highly emotional disturbed young woman who was making suicide threats that went wrong”.
The woman told the court she had a relationship with the man between late 2015 and 2017.
The woman alleged the relationship started out “good and fun and happy”, but once she was staying at his house within the first three months of their relationship “it changed because (he) became violent towards me”.
“He became controlling by monitoring my phone, my social media, where I was going, who I was spending time with,” she claimed.
“If he didn’t want me going anywhere he would disconnect parts of my car so that I wouldn’t drive.
“At the start he didn’t seem to mind but then he said whatever I was doing to improve my appearance was to impress other people, such as wearing makeup or revealing clothing, and I just ended up toning that down.
She alleged her then-boyfriend would use her phone to impersonate her and send messages to her female friends.
The woman, who suffered burns to more than 50 per cent of her body and went into an induced coma after the incident, claimed her ex would often require her to video call her and show him her surroundings to prove she was not with anyone else.
Another witness appeared in court claiming he had lived next door to the woman’s mother. He had been on good terms with the mother and daughter, but he alleged one day the younger woman warned him to cease all further communication with her “as her boyfriend … was becoming quite jealous”.
The witness claimed some time he had heard yelling, swearing, crashing and banging while the boyfriend was at the house.
During cross-examination, the witness claimed he believed another young man had visited the household frequently earlier in 2016.
“It was only one time they came home, they had closed the blinds of the bedroom and I presume based on what I observed that perhaps they had a relationship,” he alleged.
The trial will continue on Thursday, when the jury is expected to listen to further prerecorded evidence from the woman.
Witness recalls ‘scary event’ in trial of alleged attempted murderer
A witness has recalled seeing a “quite scary looking” man hitting a car, and another witness claimed she saw a man grab and strike his then girlfriend as the trial of an alleged attempted murderer continues.
The witnesses gave evidence before a jury at a Supreme Court of Tasmania trial this week of a man who allegedly set his ex-girlfriend on fire in Chigwell.
The man’s defence lawyer Greg Richardson claims the woman’s burns were the result of a “highly emotional disturbed young woman who was making suicide threats that went wrong”.
Several witnesses took to the stand this week and audio phone call recordings, Facebook messages and CCTV footage of interactions between the man and woman from when they were in a relationship were played for the jury.
One witness 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 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”.
But during cross-examination, defence lawyer Mr Richardson questioned why certain recollections of the encounters weren’t relayed in police statements at the time, such as the woman warning one witness her partner was “crazy”, or that she had smudged mascara.
Some audio recordings were played of the man yelling “you f***ing mutt” and “f***ing mole” at his then girlfriend.
Messages between the two indicated the woman had attempted to break off the relationship at least once, with one message reading “you’ve done it this time, there’s no turning back”.
The trial began on Tuesday and is expected to run for five weeks.
Trial begins for man who allegedly set ex-girlfriend on fire
Tuesday October 5, 2021
A violence- and paranoia-fuelled relationship ended when a man allegedly attempted to murder his female partner after she threatened to leave him, a court has heard.
The man has appeared for the first day of his Hobart Supreme Court trial to fight a charge of attempted murder from a night in early 2017.
Deputy Director of Prosecutions Linda Mason said it was alleged the man had thrown diesel and petrol over his partner and flicked his lighter on after she had made threats to end their relationship.
Ms Mason said the alleged act of attempted murder came about amid a relationship of “extreme toxicity”, and claimed the man experienced paranoia, jealousy and a desire to control his partner.
But his defence lawyer Greg Richardson claimed her horrific burns had stemmed from a “tragic accident”.
Mr Richardson claimed her burns were the result of a “highly emotional disturbed young woman who was making suicide threats that went wrong”.
Ms Mason said on the night of the alleged incident, the young woman had told her boyfriend over Facebook messenger they were ending things.
Ms Mason read out an excerpt from the messages saying “we’re seriously done, I’ll get my stuff tomorrow and you will get yours”.
Ms Mason said the man allegedly took the woman to his parents’ house and told her to park her car in the driveway and have a cigarette with him.
The man allegedly locked the shed roller door, and said she wasn’t going anywhere after she repeated her desire to go home.
He allegedly splashed liquid onto her while her back was turned, and he was alleged to have ignited the fuel after she refused to go into the main house with him to wash her clothes.
Both parties agreed emergency services had arrived the night of the incident after receiving a call from the defendant’s father to find the man hosing down his girlfriend in the backyard.
She sustained serious burns to more than 50 per cent of her body and was coughing up blood as she was rushed to hospital.
She emerged from an induced coma weeks later.
Mr Richardson said “that relationship was volatile, and that’s an understatement”.
“There were, in this relationship, threats to harm both ways, threats to kill both ways, abuse both ways,” he said.
“There were forms of violence both ways.”
Ms Mason said over the course of the trial, the jury would hear phone calls and audio recordings of conversations between the couple, which had been obtained through police surveillance.
A phone call was played before the jury on Tuesday where the man called her friends “dogs”. She told him she had cut off some of her friends, while he had continued his friendships.
The trial will continue this week.
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