Boyfriend nails his girlfriend to a wooden plank in ‘crucifixion’ before setting her on fire leaving her with horrific injuries ‘for ending their relationship’

A friend was seriously injured after her boyfriend nailed her feet and hands to a wooden plank in a gruesome ‘crucifixion’ before setting her on fire.

Oksana Kuzmenko, 40, from Russia, told the court how her lover staged the crucifixion, doused her body in petrol and set it on fire after she ended their relationship.

The recruiter was left with life-changing injuries after she ‘lit up like a candle’, her appearance completely changed after the horrific torture at the hands of her boyfriend.

Oleg Shchegolikhin, 33, a welder, was sentenced to 12 years behind bars in a penal colony with a strict regime by a Russian court for attempted murder with ‘extreme cruelty’ – but has volunteered to fight for Vladimir Putin in his war against Ukraineand therefore unlikely to spend much time in prison.

The victim bravely testified against the brutal Shchegolikhin in court after he threatened to kill her at the car repair shop where he worked in Yekaterinburg, in eastern Russia.

After the attack, she was diagnosed with severe burns to her upper limbs, upper airway, neck, face and buttocks.

Oleg Shchegolikhin, 33, was jailed for 12 years after brutally torturing his girlfriend

Recalling the chilling event that took place in October, Kuzmenko said: ‘He took off my boots, grabbed my left leg and hammered a nail into it.

“And in my right leg he took something that looked like a corkscrew and twisted a sharp object into my right leg,” she continued.

While Shchegolikhin was carrying out his gruesome ‘crucifixion’, he had threatened to kill his girlfriend as she lay helplessly nailed to a wooden plank.

“He took a cigarette and a lighter and put gasoline in it so I lit up like a candle,” she said.

The welder watched his girlfriend burn alive while he smoked his cigarette, before grabbing a fire extinguisher and putting out the flames.

But it was too late and the damage had already been done.

After Kuzmenko was rescued from the flames, Shchegolikhin pulled the burnt skin off his girlfriend’s right hand. Her girlfriend was left with scars that she would live with for the rest of her life.

He then ordered her to drive him to the town of Asbestos, but she feared he would kill her and hide her body in a forest during the journey.

The brave and wounded Kuzmenko then decided to deliberately crash her car into another vehicle. This action probably saved her life, because Shchegolikhin left her and fled the scene when the police arrived.

In a speech to the court, Kuzmenko recounted the horrific attack in which her right leg was injured by a corkscrew.

Pictured: Kuzmenko before she was violently attacked by her boyfriend last year

Martyr Shchegolikhin hopes to avoid the harsh penal colony to which he has been sentenced by volunteering to fight against Ukraine on behalf of Russia

After the attack, Shchegolikhin ordered his girlfriend to drive him to Asbest before he was arrested by police

Shchegolikhin’s lawyer, Olga Polishchuk, confirmed that they would appeal the verdict and that he would wage war in Ukraine

Shchegolikhin (left) had launched his brutal attack on Kuzmenko after she had ended their relationship. Shchegolikhin had concealed his past as a convict with previous sentences for hijacking, robbery, assault and drunk driving, Kuzmenko told the court

Kuzmenko explained to officers the horrific ordeal she had endured, telling the court that her boyfriend then beat her for an hour.

Police found the woman in a “terrible condition”, the court heard, and she was later diagnosed severe burns to the upper limbs, upper respiratory tract, neck, face and buttocks.

She had deep wounds to her limbs from the nail and corkscrew and was in a “serious” condition in hospital.

Shchegolikhin had concealed his past as a convict, with previous convictions for hijacking, theft, assault and drunk driving, Kuzmenko told the court.

His lawyer Olga Polishchuk claimed after the trial that he would appeal, saying he “never intended to kill her” when he nailed her to a board and set her on fire.

She said: ‘During interrogations and in court he always said: ‘I loved her’.’

Shchegolikhin will appeal his conviction for attempted murder, but has since applied for a deal that would allow him to be pardoned by Putin after serving six months in his war.

“He’s going to war,” she said.

‘He wrote a statement to the Russian military in October.

“If he were to join the war, he could make it up to her,” she added.