Man sentenced to 11 years in jail for setting his beauty queen girlfriend on fire

An Ohio man, Michael Slager, 41, who was arrested in 2015 for pouring gasoline on his then-girlfriend and lighting her on fire was sentenced Monday to 11 years in prison after being convicted of aggravated arson, possession of criminal tools and assault.

Slager pleaded no contest to all three criminal counts right before his sentencing, according to a statement from Ron O’Brien, the prosecutor for Ohio’s Franklin County.

O’Brien said in his statement that Slager received the maximum sentence for his crimes.

On Aug. 2, 2015, police responded to a gas station incident in Gahanna, Ohio, after dispatchers received reports from several witnesses that a woman had been set ablaze and engulfed in flames.

Authorities say the victim, Slager’s girlfriend,33 year old Judith Malinowski was rushed to Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center in critical condition.

A majority of her body bears scarring and she has undergone innumerable surgeries to keep her alive, O’Brien said. The attack left 90 percent of her body covered in third- or fourth-degree burns, according to the Columbus Dispatch.

“Would she want to be like this? Would she want to go on?” Malinowski’s mother asked herself. “She would.” “She’d want to stay to help someone — anyone,”. “Do you want to know why she was Miss New Albany? Because she was the sweetest kid there was. She had the nicest personality.”

Slager was also treated for burns he’d sustained in the altercation, authorities said.

Police said when Slager was interviewed, he initially claimed that the incident was a “horrible accident,” but investigators learned from witnesses that the couple had been arguing just before Malinowski was set on fire.
One witness at the scene told police that at one point, Slager used a fire extinguisher to extinguish the flames on Malinowski.

Malinowski still remains in the hospital’s care and her condition remains unchanged till this day.