A Sydney man who became obsessed with a prostitute has been found guilty of paying a teenager to pour accelerant over her before setting her on fire.
Mohammed Ali Fouani, now aged 45, had asked the Korean English student to give up her job and be his live-in girlfriend.
When that didn’t end up happening, the plasterer allegedly recruited the underage child to set her alight outside the Sydney brothel where the woman worked in March 2012.
Fouani pleaded not guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent and to recruiting a child to commit a criminal act, but on Wednesday, the District Court jury found him guilty of both charges.
The woman was on fire for 17 seconds, leaving her with burns to 45 per cent of her body and permanent scarring across her body.
Prosecutors told the jury that Fouani had threatened to hurt both the teenager and his family if he failed to set her on fire.
The woman had initially agreed to quit prostitution and be his girlfriend and Fouani told police “it was beautiful, everything was perfect”.
Fouani, who spent up to $1000 per visit to the victim, told police she had committed to telling her boss she was quitting.
However, she continued to put off her departure and the day before the attack, she had told Fouani it would be difficult to leave that week because she’d let down her boss, who was also her friend.
Fouani said he had “accepted” her job, although he didn’t like it.
“I met her there and it was great money,” he said in the interview.
Judge Peter Whitford set a sentencing hearing for September 22.
