A 47-year-old man in Surabaya, East Java, identified as Maspuryanto, was arrested for allegedly setting his 19-year-old wife, named Putri Nalurita, on fire during a dispute between them on Tuesday.
According to reports, Maspuryanto married Putri only two months ago, but their relationship had been strained to the point that Putri had recently gone back to live with her parents in the city of Malang.
On Tuesday, Putri returned to the rented room the couple shared in a kost (boarding home) in Surabaya to pick up her things, when Maspuryanto doused her with gasoline and set her on fire, before leaving the scene on a stolen motorcycle.
Putri suffered deep burns on her face and neck, and is still under intensive care at Soetomo General Hospital in Surabaya.
Maspuryanto was arrested on a bus headed to Central Java on Wednesday. Yesterday, the Surabaya Police paraded Maspuryanto in a press conference, during which he expressed great remorse for hurting his wife. "I regret this, I am sorry," he said, while in tears, as quoted by Kompas.
Based on their interrogation of Maspuryanto, the Surabaya Police said that the suspect set Putri on fire to scare her into reconsidering asking for a divorce.
"The wife asked for a divorce because she could no longer stand living with the suspect, who liked to be violent towards her," Surabaya Police Deputy Chief Leonardus Simarmata said, adding that Putri felt caged after marrying Maspuryanto because she wasn't able to have a social life.
Maspuryanto was charged with domestic abuse and violent assault, which could see him jailed for up to 15 years.