The partner of a 48-year-old Brazilian woman who died after throwing herself from a burning fourth-floor apartment in Milan on the night between Wednesday and Thursday in a desperate attempt to save herself from the fire has been charged with homicide and arson, prosecutors said Friday.
The front door of the apartment was locked from outside, according to an initial reconstruction.
The suspect, 45-year-old Brazilian Michael Pereira, is accused of deliberately causing the blaze that killed Sueli Leal Barbosa.
Prosecutors said in the arrest warrant that Pereira did not show "any form of grief, never mind remorse" during questioning and gradually changed his version of events with "lies" about the time he left the apartment, his claim that he did not argue with the victim and possible causes of the fire, such as a boiler, which in reality turned out to work perfectly.
Italy has suffered a long series of shocking femicides that have stirred a major public debate about gender-based violence.
