Man gets 12 yrs for torching girlfriend (3)

(ANSA) - Messina, January 10 - A young Italian man got 12 years in jail Wednesday for setting fire to his girlfriend in the eastern Sicilian coastal city of Messina a year ago. Alessio Mantineo was found guilty of deliberately torching Ylenia Bonavera, who suffered severe burns. Mantineo, 24, was convicted despite 22-year-old Bonavera's testimony that it wasn't him who set her on fire.
    On November 22 she testified that, although she had said her former boyfriend set her on fire on her doorstep in January, she wished to retracted her statement in court, saying it wasn't him who poured petrol on her and lit it.
    A preliminary hearings judge ordered further investigations after Bonavera's testimony.
    Bonavera told neighbours on the night of the attack in Messina on January 7-8 that Mantineo attacked her.
    He was arrested after statements from witnesses and on the basis of CCTV footage showing him buying a canister of petrol from an automatic dispenser.