A former Fiji citizen who burnt his wife to death on a New Zealand roadside will spend at least 14 and half years in jail.
Diwesh Kumar Sharma, 29, pleaded guilty to the murder of his wife Ranjeeta Sharma in the High Court in Hamilton last month and Justice Andrews yesterday sentenced him to life imprisonment.
The victim’s body was found by the fire service down a rural Huntly road last year and it took police two days to identify her.
There was some uncertainty over whether Ranjeeta Sharma was alive before being set alight but today the court heard that she was, and their son was in the car when it happened.
Diwesh doused her in petrol while she was lying face down on the side of the road before igniting her and fleeing the scene.
Days after the incident, Fiji police found Sharma and his son hiding in Rakiraki, before New Zealand police interviewed him and he voluntarily came back.
