"I just thank God that I'm alive, because in looking at the picture, I probably shouldn't be here right now," 33-year-old single mother Naomie Breton
A Florida woman was doused with petrol and set on fire at a 7-Eleven in a horrific crime caught on tape.
Her ex-boyfriend, 59-year-old Roosevelt Mondesir, was arrested on suspicion of attempted first-degree murder.
The woman met Mondesir at the 7-Eleven, where they were supposed to exchange custody of their 4-year-old son. But the boy, who was in Mondesir's custody, was not there.
With a history of alleged violence between Roosevelt Mondesir and the woman, the woman started to leave, news reports said.
That's when Mondesir grabbed a petrol canister from his Jaguar and allegedly doused the woman with the liquid.
Surveillance video shows the petrol-soaked woman running inside the store and using her body to keep the door shut. But Mondesir, armed with a long knife, forced the door open. He allegedly set the woman on fire as she ran away.
The incident happened shortly before 3 a.m. on a Monday morning. Police found Mondesir hiding in nearby bushes about 5:45 a.m. They found the knife and gas container in his car.
Mondesir appeared in court the next day, and a judge denied bail. He also denied Mondesir's request for a public defender, because Mondesir's income was too high.
“All I saw was that I was on fire,” Breton said in a local news report.
“That’s when I was screaming and I was trying to pat myself to the point that the only way I saw to keep myself alive was to take off my shirt.”