An East Java man was arrested after he allegedly burned his wife alive in a field in Gresik Regency last week. Police say that his motive for her murder was jealousy, spurred to fatal levels by a supposed hickey.
According to the police chronology, the suspect, 41-year-old IR, asked his wife, 41-year-old UA, to go out to buy dinner on Wednesday, June 7. Once in town, UA went to buy the food while IR went to buy fuel stored in a plastic container.
On the way home, the pair stopped by a field as IR said he wanted to make love to UA.
“When he took off her shirt, he saw kiss marks on his wife’s chest. The suspect got angry and doused the fuel on his wife and burnt her alive,” said East Java Police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera, as quoted by Kompas yesterday.
UA died in the field soon afterwards and locals found her body the next day. IR was arrested by the police a few days afterwards.
Police said IR confessed to the murder, saying that the hickey was the last straw as he had previously found romantic chats between his wife and another man on her phone on numerous occasions.
If found guilty, IR could face the death penalty for premeditated murder.
