Mother Jailed for Pouring Kerosene Over Herself, 7-Year-Old Son, Setting Kitchen on Fire

A mother in Australia was jailed for pouring kerosene over herself and her 7-year-old son before she set her home’s kitchen on fire.

Rita Khatri appeared in Victoria’s Supreme Court on Tuesday, October 14, where she was sentenced to serve four years and eight months in jail for the crime, according to Herald Sun and The West Australian.

The sentencing was revealed after Khatri, 36, was previously charged with attempted murder in June 2024, according to The West Australian. However, the charge was dropped after she pleaded guilty to recklessly engaging in conduct that put her son’s life at risk.

She bought approximately two gallons of kerosene on June 26, 2024, after she picked her son up from school in Melbourne, per the Herald Sun.

After they had dinner, Khatri suggested they “play a game” and she instructed that they both undress so they were only in their underwear. Khatri then poured the kerosene on their bodies and lit their clothes and a floor mat in the kitchen on fire.

Khatri reportedly urged her son to “go next to the fire;” though he managed to escape and called emergency services.

According to the outlets, the son was heard by emergency responders telling his mother to “stop” and that she was "hurting" him.

"Mommy, I don't want to die," he said through tears before Khatri ended the call.

After Khatri hung up on the emergency responders, the outlets reported that the son escaped the home and stopped a passerby to call the police.

Once the emergency responders arrived at their home, she told them that she had “nothing left to live for,” according to the Herald Sun.

The boy survived the incident without sustaining any burns, though the West Australian reported that he did go to the hospital to receive treatment for "some skin damage from the kerosene.”

While in court, Justice James Gorton praised the young boy for showing “remarkable courage" when he alerted the police. “The audio recordings reveal how desperately frightened and panicked, and to my mind confused, he was by your actions and what you were telling him to do,” he said, per the Herald Sun.

“It is difficult to think of a more stressful event for a child of that age than to be repeatedly asked, or told, by his parent, for no apparent proper reason, to engage in conduct that carried with it, he must have appreciated, the risk of his painful death or at least serious injury,” Gorton continued.

Khatri pleaded guilty to attempting to alter the course of justice, admitting that she told her son’s caretaker that the situation could have been described as an "accident,” per the outlet.

As Gorton revealed her sentence, he said Khatri was in “great personal stress” when she committed the crime. In addition to her second marriage falling apart, Khatri was also facing the risk of being deported to her home country of India after her husband withdrew her spousal support visa.

“Your second marriage had broken down, your expectation of being supported by your second husband and your prospects of obtaining a visa to remain in Australia had both disappeared, you had no source of income and you had no family support in Australia,” Gorton told Khatri, who shares her son with her first husband, according to the Herald Sun.

Due to her visa situation, Khatri will not be eligible for parole, according to Herald Sun. Additionally, the outlet reported that she will likely be deported once she completes her jail sentence.