Story By: Ana Lacasa, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
Video Credit: CEN
This is the moment a young car wash worker saves a woman whose boyfriend had poured petrol over her before seemingly trying to burn her alive.
The incident took place in the district of La Victoria, in the Peruvian capital Lima and was captured by CCTV cameras.
In the video, the boyfriend, named Julio Cesar Rojas Mogollon, 48, can reportedly be seen pouring petrol over his girlfriend Brigitte Flores Luna during an argument.
A car washer named Juan Zuleta Gomez, 25, then puts himself between the couple when Mogollon pulls out a lighter and sparks it.
Flames can be seen coming from a cloth Mogollon is carrying which he drops near his girlfriend and the car washer. Gomez’s shirt can be seen on fire as he walks away with the girlfriend and the attacker then gets on a motorbike.
The alleged aggressor was arrested shortly after the incident but was then released because the victim did not report the case.
The woman at first admitted she had been attacked, but she later told local media that it was just a drunken argument saying: “We were drunk and he started to do things with his hands. He put his hands in his pocket and pulled out the lighter, he pulled out the keys and I do not know what else, because I was at a prudent distance. I saw the flame and went away, that is why I did not report the case to the police.”
However, prosecutors have decided to act by themselves and Rojas was arrested again. He reportedly has a criminal record for four violent crimes.
Car washer Gomez has been hailed as a hero by local media and politicians and he told reporters: “I was in the corner and I saw him beating her and insulting her because she asked something about the motorbike. People we just watching the scene and therefore I approached.
“I am not Batman nor Superman, I only helped because I never like women to be beaten”.
The Mayor of La Victoria, George Forsyth, said the municipality had given the car washer a bicycle, adding: “We have given him a bike so that it could help him, we did not want this to be forgotten. He gave all of us a lesson, you do not need to be a mayor, president or have an important post to make a change. A modest citizen saved the life of a person.”
The city council also offered the young man a job and help with anything he needs, but he reportedly did not accept it. The Mayor said: “We insisted and asked if he needed help, but he rejected it. We are dealing with a real hero.”
Luz Marina Palacios, the prosecutor in charge of the investigation said to local media that “we are investigating to ask for preventive prison”.
The Minister of Women of Peru, Gloria Montenegro, said “I want to congratulate the young man who acted in defence and avoided a femicide. If he had not got involved this woman would have been another victim .”
The investigation is ongoing.
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