A MAN allegedly threatened to burn his wife alive in her car just days before torching her vehicle, a court heard.
The 43-year-old Bahraini is standing trial at the High Criminal Court where he previously pleaded guilty to arson.
The Bahraini woman, also aged 43, told prosecutors he threatened to hurt her and her children days before he set her Lexus ablaze, on November 17 in A’ali.
She added her husband’s “jealousy” destroyed their lives.
She described her shock when she learnt that her vehicle was engulfed in flames outside her parents’ home.
“I moved out of the house because he is overly jealous,” she told prosecutors.
“I stayed at my parents’ house for a month because my husband was threatening to burn my car with me in it.
“He kept phoning, and threatening, me.
“On the day of the incident, some people came to my parents’ home and told us my car was on fire.
“People living in the village then gathered and helped put out the blaze.
“I can’t believe he burnt my car; what kind of father tells his daughter he’s going to burn her mother in her car?”
The defendant previously said he torched his wife’s car out of spite, because she insisted on “going out, and upsetting him”.
He told the court he would pay for damages caused to his wife’s vehicle when he doused it with petrol and set it ablaze using a lighter.
However, he requested the judges to sentence him to an alternative punishment.
“I will fix the damages,” he said in a letter submitted to judges.
“I request to receive an alternative punishment.”
The trial has been adjourned until Thursday for review.
The GDN previously reported that more than 1,700 inmates have been handed non-custodial sentences since the law governing alternative punishments was introduced two years ago.
The Alternative Punishments Law programme, was enforced at the start of 2018.
Inmates eligible for release under the scheme are required to have served half their jail term and displayed good behaviour in prison.
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