Indian-origin woman cleared of murdering husband

SYDNEY - An Indian-origin woman has been cleared of murdering her husband whom she set ablaze in Australia’s Adelaide city after he scorned her plan to set his penis on fire to save their marriage, a media report said Wednesday.

Fortysix-year-old Rajini Narayan was, however, found guilty of manslaughter at the end of the trial at South Australian Supreme Court for murdering 47-year-old Satish Narayan in December 2008, Australian news agency AAP reported.

Tim Preston, prosecutor, argued that Narayan was a jealous, possessive wife who wanted to hurt her husband as she felt that he was having an affair.

She told a neighbour that she had wanted to disfigure her husband’s penis so that no other woman would want to look at it.

Rajini threw petrol on her husband and set him alight after he insulted her when she revealed her plan to save their marriage by dipping his penis in petrol and lighting it. She wanted to “purify” it, she said.

She then poured petrol on his back when he turned away from her saying, “No you won’t, you fat, dumb bitch”.

Satish died with burns to 75 percent of his body.

The jury Wednesday acquitted Rajini of murder after over a day of deliberations.

But they found her guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter.