A MAN was yesterday jailed for seven years after dowsing his ex-girlfriend in petrol and setting her alight.
Andreas Costa Andreou, 38 from Larnaca, had pleaded guilty to a specific charge of causing grievous bodily harm, which under the penal code can carry a life sentence.
The 32-year-old woman had complained that Andreou had stalked and harassed her in an attempt to win her back. But this desperation took a twisted turn in the early hours of April 1 this year.
The defendant waited for his ex-girlfriend to return home after a night out and poured petrol over her as she walked towards the entrance of her apartment building in Latsia.
Andreou then chased his victim, managing to push her to the ground just outside her apartment building before setting her on fire with a lighter.
Her cries for help were heard by neighbours, who immediately called the police as she threw herself into a pot hole filled with rainwater to extinguish the fire.
Andreou was eventually arrested after being found by police hiding in mountain area in Stavrovouni.
Arresting officers found weed-killer on him and believe he may have been planning to commit suicide
After being taken to the police station for questioning, he told officers: “I did it out of frustration.”
His former girlfriend sustained massive injuries after the attack and has been forced to have plastic surgery after suffering burns to 30 per cent of her body.
Superficial burns can still be seen on her back, face, neck and arms.
During the trial, Andreou’s lawyer Giorgos Kazantzis had claimed his client wanted to get back together with the victim and that he had at one point sold his car to give her £4,000 in the hope that she would take him back.
According to Andreou, the victim took the money and said she would think about it.
As he waited for her to get back to him, he told her that he would send her flowers with money and would also buy her shopping every two weeks and leave it outside her door.
He then claimed that his ex-girlfriend would only get back together with him if he sold his parents’ house so that they could get the money to pay off debts that she had.
The lawyer had told the court that his client had repeatedly tried to get his parents to sell the house, telling them that he needed the money for a business he wanted to start up, but they refused.
After refusing to meet with him for a coffee so that they could talk, his frustration turned to rage on the night of the attack.
Appearing in court yesterday, Andreou appeared impassive as the three-judge panel decided to jail him for seven years.
The judges ruled that it was “the defendant’s own fault that he did not realise where he stood in the relationship” and that “the emotional frustration was self-inflicted”.
“The defendant had premeditated his illegal act and that is why he went to the scene with the inflammatory fluid and the lighter. It is obvious that his intention was to give the victim one last chance to take him back. When his efforts failed, he attacked her. The victim has been scarred for life, both physically and mentally.”
