A 23-year-old woman is
fighting for life after she was set ablaze by her husband in Ban Pheung, Muang district of Nakhon Phanom, Thailand,
for refusing to reconcile with him.
The man identified as
Uthen, 26, doused his wife Maithong, with gasoline and set her ablaze after
putting her in a headlock.
Maithong is barely
alive in a hospital in Udon Thani. She has burns to almost 100% of her body and
is in a comma in ICU.
Uthen was also burned
but is out of danger. He is still recovering in the same hospital.
According to the
police, the couple had been together for 3 or 4 years but broke up some months
ago after repeated arguments. They have a one year old son together.
The husband went to the
wife’s house after she refused a reconciliation. Police said there was no doubt
about his intentions as he brought the gasoline with him.
On Thursday, November
28, women and children’s rights activist Paveena Hongsakul went to visit the
wife in hospital in Udon.
Relatives had
complained to her after the case did not move forward.
However, Police on
their part said they are waiting on what happens to the wife before proceeding.
An aunt of the victim named
Sripraphai, 48, said that the suspect and her niece had split up and he had
tried many times to get back together with her but she was not interested.
Narrating the ordeal
she said “ Uthen arrived on a motorcycle and immediately threw down his helmet
in a rage. He then got his wife in a headlock and doused her in gasoline and
set fire to her.
It all happened so
quickly relatives could do nothing to stop it, she said.
Instinctively the wife
got up and ran to the bathroom where relatives helped to extinguish the fire on
her clothes.
There were still bits
of clothing and evidence of the fire at many spots in and around the house.