Woman’s horror as husband burns her with petrol

By Heidi Bantam

AN Arcadia woman suffered 80 per cent burns after her estranged husband doused her with petrol and set her alight at the weekend.

In a twist of fate, the man was later shot dead by an unknown assailant.

Police spokesman Sergeant Thembi Gwe said Valerie Brower, 38, who works at the justice department in North End and has two children, was in a critical condition at Greenacres Hospital.

Her upset father, Peter Jaftha, 58, said his daughter had been attacked by her husband Shane, 29, around midnight on Saturday.

Mr Brower apparently visited his wife’s 35-year-old sister Sharon’s flat in their father’s backyard in Aandblom Street, Arcadia, “to talk” about their separation. The pair had been estranged for five months and Mrs Brower had an interdict against her husband.

He allegedly constantly threatened her and stole her money.

An emotional Mr Jaftha said yesterday: “(My daughter is) swollen and in a lot of pain. I can’t bear to look at her like that. The less I speak about it the better.” Miss Jaftha said she had awoken to find her brother-in-law and two other men in her flat on Saturday morning.

“I spoke to him and said he must leave and seek God. The friends he had were gangsters and used drugs.

“He locked the front door and when I opened it, he locked it a second time. I saw there were petrol cans on the floor and I opened the door again and ran to my father’s house,” Miss Jaftha said. While her father struggled to open the door, Mr Brower allegedly splashed her with petrol and “sprayed something” in her face before setting her nightgown ablaze.

“I struggled to get rid of the flames and when I looked at my sister, her whole body was burning,” Miss Jaftha said.

“I used my bare hands to extinguish the flames. They were all over her head and her gown,” Mr Jaftha said. Mrs Brower was then rushed to the intensive care unit at Greenacres.

“Her own mother didn’t recognise her. She didn’t know it was her,” he said.

She suffered burns to her arms, hands and fingers and has been treated by a doctor.