Man charged with attempted murder after dozing girlfriend in gasoline

A 38-year-old man was indicted for attempted murder by a spouse on Tuesday April 11, the Saint-Brieuc prosecution announced on Friday April 14, reports France Bleu Armorique. He is suspected of having doused his companion with gasoline, before setting fire to Lamballe (Côtes-d’Armor) on the night of April 7 to 8.

That night, the victim says he was doused with gasoline by his companion. “In her complaint, the victim explains that she woke up after hearing her companion going back and forth near her, bringing logs, then household oil, before sprinkling the logs with it and lighting the fire. The can would have caught fire causing his hair to catch fire”reports to France Bleu the public prosecutor of Saint-Brieuc Nicolas Heitz.

Third degree burns

The woman managed to extinguish the fire with a blanket. She says she also suffered “violence committed earlier in the evening and the next day while going to the edge of a lake”. The victim suffered from third degree burns and the doctor fixed the Temporary Incapacity for Work (ITT) at more than eight days.

The defendant, a 38-year-old man, was arrested in Saint-Malo on Sunday April 9 and placed in police custody. Heard by the investigation services, “he initially disputed the facts of attempted murder indicating that it was a voluntary act of the victim before partly acknowledging his responsibility, stating a simple desire to provoke”. He also acknowledged the acts of violence. His criminal record bears mention of five convictions unrelated to domestic violence, indicates France Bleu.

The suspect was presented to the prosecutor on Tuesday, who opened a judicial investigation into the counts of attempted murder by spouse committed in Lamballe and violence without ITT by spouse. He was subsequently charged on these counts and remanded in custody.