KINGSTOWN, St Vincent (CMC) — The 44-year-old woman who was allegedly set on fire one week ago for refusing to have sex with a man, has died.
Monique Clarke, a mother of two, died Tuesday at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital, where she had been a patient since the August 13 incident.
Media reports here said that the woman was set ablaze reportedly after she refused to have sex or give money to a man with whom she has had an abusive relationship for the past two years.
Police have since charged Pedro Ashton, 33, a labourer of Biabou, a town east of here, with intent to commit murder and he is scheduled to re-appear in court on September 4. Investigators say the charge is likely to be upgraded.
Clarke’s sister, Iesha Richardson, said that her sister had told her that she was set ablaze as she was lying wrapped in a sheet in her bed.
She had suffered second- and third-degree burns to 85 per cent of her body — from her head to her lower extremities.
Clarke died as her sister and others were attempting to raise funds to send her overseas for medical attention.
Richardson announced her sister’s death in a series of post on Facebook Tuesday.
“Thanks everyone who tried to help in one way or another but Sad News… not what I wanted to hear… My sister Monique has passed on,” she said in one post early Tuesday morning.
Earlier she had urged people to help financially so as to allow her sister to seek medical treatment overseas.
“I know about the economic hardships globally, But please help share the info please … we never know who’s next. It’s really difficult and frustrating … Time is running out and my sister has a good chance of survival if she gets the help required in due time. Right now she’s having shortness of breath,” she wrote on Facebook.
