Woman who burnt daughter’s rapist alive with petrol and matches wished to ‘scare’ him
A new documentary provides a new look at a shocking case that saw a mum burn her daughter’s rapist alive after he mocked her for the despicable crime he had commited
A new documentary tells the story of the dramatic incident(Image: MAX)
A mum who killed her daughter’s rapist by setting him on fire has told her story in a powerful new documentary series. In 1998, 13-year-old Veronica García was held at knife point and raped by 62-year-old bricklayer Antonio ‘Pincelito’ Cosme while walking to the bakery in the town of Benejúzar, Spain.
When she heard about the horrific crime committed on her daughter, Maria del Carmen García immediately went to confront the twisted attacker, grabbing a knife and heading to his home. Upon seeing her daughter’s rapist, Maria reportedly told Cosme: “You don’t deserve to live! You son of a b****. You son of a b****!”, according to Gema Peñalosa’s book Fuego.
In 2000, Cosme was jailed for nine years for the sick crime, although was released from prison after serving just five.
Maria killed her daughter’s rapist by setting him on fire (Image: MAX)
In June 2005, Cosme bumped into his victim’s mum at a bus stop and reportedly said: “Good morning, ma’am. How is your daughter”.
Maria, furious at her daughter’s rapist and fearing for her and Veronica’s safety, took matters into her own hands, purchasing petrol and matches and confronting Cosme at he ate his breakfast.
Much of the story comes from the book ‘Fuego’(Image: Ebay)
She reportedly asked Cosme “Do you remember me?” before setting Cosme alight. The rapist reportedly suffered burns to 60% of his body and died 10 days later.
Speaking at her trial in 2009, María maintained that she had never intended to kill Cosme, telling the court: “I didn’t want to kill him; I wanted to scare him so that he would leave and never come near my family again.”
Her daughter Veronica also spoke out about the devastating impact of the ordeal on her family, telling reporters: “If his [Cosme’s] family had acknowledged that he raped me and had let us live in peace, what is happening now would never have occurred.
The Hulu documentary can be seen on several streaming platforms (Image: Getty Images)
“But you cannot damage a person to such an extent. My mother has been undergoing psychiatric treatment since the very day I was raped, and she still is […] Things would have been different if there had been a restraining order.”
María was initially jailed for nine and a half years, although her sentence was subsequently cut to five and a half years. She was eventually granted parole in August 2018.
The shocking case is explored in the Hulu true-crime documentary Hell on Earth: The Verónica Case.
