Early…
By James DeWeese
A 27-year-old East Elmhurst woman was charged Saturday with first- and second-degree assault after police said she doused her husband with alcohol and lit fire to him with a cigarette lighter almost two weeks ago, the Queens district attorney said.
Early on the morning of April 3 inside their Curtis Street home, Aisha Davis-Napoleon “poured alcohol over (her husband’s) body and set his body on fire using a lighter,” according to the criminal complaint filed by the Queens DA.
Police said the alleged assault was not reported until April 9, the day Davis-Napoleon was arrested.
The husband, Clifford Davis of 24-26 Curtis St., suffered third-degree burns over 37 percent of his body, police said. Davis was taken to Bronx-based Jacobi Medical Center, where he was admitted on the morning of the incident in serious but stable condition, police said.
A spokesman for Jacobi Medical Center said Tuesday that Davis remained in the hospital’s burn unit and was in “good condition.”
Davis told investigators that he suffered “third-degree burns to his neck, torso, pelvic region and penis as well as substantial pain,” the criminal complaint said.
Law enforcement sources described the alleged assault as a marital dispute that turned violent and said the crime was not reported until later because Davis did not initially want to press charges against his wife.
The same sources said the accounts offered by the victim and the alleged aggressor differed.
When sufficient evidence is available against a suspect in a marital dispute, the state can elect to prosecute without the victim’s consent.
Davis-Napoleon could face up to 25 years in prison if convicted on the four counts of felony assault, a spokesman for Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.
Davis-Napoleon was arraigned Saturday before Queens County Criminal County Justice Jane Gene Lopez, who set bail at $15,000, according to a spokeswoman for the Queens DA. Lopez also issued a temporary restraining order against Davis-Napoleon, barring her from approaching her husband, the spokeswoman said.
Davis-Napoleon is next scheduled to appear in court April 28.
Davis-Napoleon’s lawyer, Gerard Savage of the Legal Aid Society, could not be reached for comment.
Reach reporter James DeWeese by e-mail at news@timesledger.com, or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 157.
