Rajini Narayan, who is on trial for murder, loved her husband Satish so much that she believed setting fire to his penis would stop him from cheating, the South Australian Supreme Court in Adelaide has heard.
Rajini, a mother of three, set her husband on fire at their Unley townhouse in December 2008. Satish, 47, died in hospital from his burns three weeks later. The prosecution said Rajini told her neighbours immediately after the fire that she intended to burn only her husband’s genitals.
The defence said she formed an irrational view that if she burnt part of her husband’s genitals he would stay with her, but that she ended up throwing a container of petrol and a candle on his back when he dismissed her threat.
Published 27 September 2010, 15:58 IST