Phillip Payet suffered deep burns to 68 per cent of his body after being set on fire by David Maddocks and Clinton Phillips. Photo / Facebook
Phillip Payet suffered deep burns to 68 per cent of his body after being set on fire by David Maddocks and Clinton Phillips. Photo / Facebook
The girlfriend of a man burned alive has told a court how she stood by him through a coma and years of slow recovery, nursing him back to health by feeding him and massaging his scars in their home.
David Maddocks, 32, is awaiting sentence for pouring accelerant through the window of Phillip Payet's car, where he was sleeping, before setting it on fire.
His co-offender, Clinton Phillips, 41, has already been sentenced to seven years in prison for the "horrific" act.
The County Court of Victoria on Wednesday heard Mr Payet had been working on his car outside his Frankston home on December 26, 2016, and fell asleep inside it about 12.30am.
He woke with the feeling of something cold and wet being splashed onto his face, and then the fire was lit. He ran screaming into the street and suffered deep burns to 68 per cent of his body, prosecutor Peter Pickering said.
Neighbours tried to put the fire out but were "unsuccessful", and relief came when the Country Fire Authority arrived, he said.
In a victim impact statement ready to the County Court of Victoria on Thursday, Mr Payet's girlfriend Liz Lewis shared heartbreaking testimony of the shattering night.
"The events of that day continue to haunt me to this day … even after three-and-a-half years," she said.
Lewis said she became aware of a disturbance outside and opened the curtain to see Payet's car engulfed in flames and immediately called the fire brigade.
"I wasn't aware at that point in time that my partner was burning alive," she said.
"It was and still is a living nightmare.
"How could you do such a thing?" she asked Maddocks.
David Maddocks doused a man in accelerant and set him on fire. Photo / Facebook
Lewis shared incredible details with the court of her unswerving commitment to her partner.
She stayed by his side while he was in a coma in intensive care, fearing every day that she would have to start planning his funeral.
"I watched my partner fight for his life day in and day out, attached to so many tubes," she said.
"Watching the man I love reach temperatures in excess of 50 degrees, praying to God his body could fight his infections.
"Trying to keep it together for the kids, who were suffering in their own way.
"I watched him go in and out of surgery and his burns bandaged continuously.
"I watched him push himself to the limits in rehab … push through the excessive pain of his scars.
"The stress and anxiety were unbearable at times … I was running on autopilot."
Eventually Payet recovered enough to be able to go home, but their journey to recovery was just beginning.
Lewis told the court how she would bathe, dry, moisturise and dress him, massage his scars and feed him.
"This was a full-time job," she said.
Phillip Payet suffered deep burns to 68 per cent of his body after being set on fire by David Maddocks and Clinton Phillips. Photo / Facebook
She said Payet would wake up traumatised in the middle of night from dreams he was on fire, and she couldn't stand the smell of smoke or being around a firepit at social gatherings.
"There were many times Phil would have amnesia, not knowing who I was," she said.
"Sometimes I just want to disappear from this nightmare … this has broken me, this has made me bitter towards the world.
"I'm surprised I'm still standing here … but I will always stand strong for the ones I love."
On the night of the attack, police said Maddocks had been in a car with his girlfriend driving when he received a phone call informing him about someone being in a car, at which point he "became very excited."
Pickering said a letter had been uncovered by police written in prison by Maddocks to his victim prior to the attack that indicated he thought the victim had "dobbed" him and other people in to police for a previous crime.
"I will hit you where it hurts the most when I get out," the letter said.
"I just want you to know I'm going to get you one way or the other."
The letter was signed, "Your bestie".
Maddocks' defence counsel Joe Connolly said Maddocks had a "traumatic" childhood where he was "beaten on an almost daily basis".
Lewis said in her victim impact statement that their children had seen Mr Payet on fire during the attack, and there were devastating parallels when Connolly said Maddocks had seen his own father, "a high-ranking member of the Hells Angels", murdered when he was a child.
Connolly said the attack had been "spurred by methylamphetamine (ice)".
Maddocks is already in prison, where he is serving six years for arson.
