Spanish mother sets daughter’s rapist on fire

Taking the law into her own hands, a Spanish mother set on fire a man who raped her teenaged daughter and allegedly taunted her about the assault, a report here said on Sunday. The rapist, Antonio Cosme Velasco Soriano, who later succumbed to injuries, had been sent to jail for nine years in 1998, but was let out on a three-day pass and returned to his home town of Benejuzar, 50 km south of Alicante, on the Costa Blanca.

While there, he passed his victim’s mother in the street and allegedly taunted her about the attack. He is said to have called out ‘‘How’s your daughter?’’ before heading into a crowded bar, the Sunday Telegraph reported. Shortly after, the woman walked into the bar, poured a bottle of petrol over Soriano and lit a match. She watched as the flames engulfed him, before walking out.

The woman fled to Alicante, where she was arrested the same evening. In court the next day, in Orihuela, she was cheered and clapped by a crowd, who shouted ‘‘Bravo!”.

A judge ordered her to be held in prison and undergo psychiatric tests, provoking anger from friends and neighbours, who have set up a petition calling for her release. Soriano suffered 60 pc burns and later succumbed to injuries.