Woman denies suicide threat

A YOUNG woman who says her ex-boyfriend doused her in petrol and set her on fire has denied the traumatic event was in fact a self-inflicted suicide threat.

On Friday, a Supreme Court jury watched the woman’s prerecorded evidence as she was grilled by defence barrister Greg Richardson.

During cross-examination, Mr Richardson suggested the alleged victim had accused her then-boyfriend of cheating on her before picking up a 20-litre fuel drum from the shed of his Chigwell home.

He then suggested she shook the drum, with fuel splashing on her clothes.

“You were yelling repeatedly, over and over, ‘you’re cheating, you’re cheating’,” the lawyer said.

“You were in a highly emotional state and yelled out ‘you want to see me burn, you want to see me f---ing burn’.”

Mr Richardson suggested the woman set some of her then-boyfriend’s paperwork on fire, which ignited her clothes. He said the event came after she had previously made a number of attempts on her life over the years.

The woman – who is now in her mid-20s – agreed she was highly emotional on the night in question during April 2017.

But she denied she spilt petrol on herself, set herself alight, or had repeatedly attempted suicide in the years prior.

“I did not do that to attempt suicide,” she said.

The woman spent months in an induced coma following the event, suffering serious burns to more than 50 per cent of her body.

She claims the “possessive and controlling” man doused her in petrol from behind after she spoke of ending their relationship, igniting the fuel with a cigarette lighter.

The man has pleaded not guilty to a charge of attempted murder. The trial, continues.