The cruel act that shocked Lisa Wilkinson
<p><span>Kyesha Finemore thought her young life was over after she was doused in petrol and set alight, desperately trying to pat her body to put the flames out.</span></p>
<p><span>Two years ago, Kyesha’s boyfriend at the time, Brae Lewis, left her for dead with severe burns to 21 per cent of her body when she was just 17.</span></p>
<p><span>The night was a horrific escalation of months of violent fights between the couple, which included a previous failed attempt to light Kyesha on fire.</span></p>
<p><span>In an interview with Lisa Wilkinson on <em>The Sunday Project</em>, Kyesha said every time she forgave her boyfriend, she hoped their relationship would turn around.</span></p>
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<p><span>Kyesha’s mum, Melissa Cooke, warned her daughter that “situations like this don’t end well”.</span></p>
<p><span>In May 2016, the teenager was set alight by her boyfriend after an argument involving a mobile phone.</span></p>
<p><span>“We started arguing, I pushed him, he pushed me, and then he sat down in the car,” she recalled of the attack that occurred outside their home in Marsden, Queensland.</span></p>
<p><span>“And I was standing at the end of the door and we were arguing and he threw the petrol at me and as he threw it he came around with the lighter and he lit it.</span></p>
<p><span>“My first reaction was to pat it down and I dropped.”</span></p>
<p><span>Feeling the burn of the fire on her body, Kyesha “fell into a bin” and attempted to put the flames out by patting her skin.</span></p>
<p><span>“Do you remember pain?” Wilkinson asked.</span></p>
<p><span>“The flame just built up in front of my face,” she said.</span></p>
<p><span>“I kinda froze, and looked down at my skin peeling and blood coming out of my arms. Brae was standing in front of me screaming he was sorry, and I was scared I was going to die.</span></p>
<p><span>“I remember just panicking and stopping and screaming the loudest scream I’ve ever done.”</span></p>
<p><span>Her boyfriend then fled the scene with a friend on a motorbike.</span></p>
<p><span>“Oh it hurt, it really, really hurt, because he couldn’t even wait around for the ambulance to get there,” she said.</span></p>
<p><span>This tragic brush with death was not the first time Kyesha had been covered in fuel.</span></p>
<p><span>She said the pair were living together in a caravan out the back of Brae’s mum’s house where a jerry can sat nearby without the lid secure.</span></p>
<p><span>“He threw the jerry can straight at me and the fuel went all over me,” she said.</span></p>
<p><span>“He did try to light it but I threw myself back.”</span></p>
<p><span>Kyesha said their relationship started after they were “hanging out every day”, with the pair living around the corner from each other.</span></p>
<p><span>“The start of it was really good and then as time went by it just got really bad, we were constantly fighting, and then the violence came into it,” she said.</span></p>
<p><span>“The very first time he actually really, really hit me, he started having a breakdown and called me and said, ‘Hurry up, get to me’ and I ran down there and he just backhanded me.</span></p>
<p><span>“He thought I was sleeping around with other people. Insecurities ate at him, and he just took it out on me.</span></p>
<p><span>“He would pick up weapons, he would throw stuff at me. Then it got really bad, he ended up throwing a screwdriver and it landed in my hip.</span></p>
<p><span>“Every time, I always forgave him.”</span></p>
<p><span>Her mother said she lost contact with her daughter when the relationship became controlling.</span></p>
<p><span>“He wouldn’t always allow her to contact us, and would try to keep her away from speaking to her family,” Melissa Cooke said.</span></p>
<p><span>“I would beg her to leave but she just wouldn’t. She kept saying things would get better.</span></p>
<p><span>“I said to her a couple of times, ‘It’s not going to end well, situations like this don’t end well.'”</span></p>
<p><span>On the night of the incident, Kyesha was rushed to hospital by a neighbour and placed in an induced coma for 24 hours – suffering burns on her upper body, arms and legs.</span></p>
<p><span>She underwent three painful skingrafts during her month-long stay in hospital.</span></p>
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<p><span>Brae was arrested and charged with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and earlier this month, he was sentenced to 11 years in jail.</span></p>
<p><span>Kyesha said the lengthy sentence was a massive weight lifted off her shoulders.</span></p>
<p><span>“At least I’m not going to be scared walking down the shops or scared to just go see a friend or you now it’s just a relief really,” she said.</span></p>
<p><span>“I still have days that it’s a struggle for me to get out of bed, to go for a shower.”</span></p>
<p><span>Now, Kyesha is speaking out about her story in the hope that she will encourage other young women to do the same.</span></p>
<p><span>“Justice was on my side, justice got dealt,” she said.</span></p>
<p><span>“After all the pain I went through it was like, OK, no one ever deserves this.</span></p>
<p><span>“Speak up, talk to someone about it. Don’t be ashamed of it because it happens.”</span></p>
