In Rostov-on-Don, the trial of 37-year-old Alexander Petrenko, accused of causing death by negligence (Part 1 of Article 109 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), began. According to investigators, the man doused his 40-year-old roommate Natalya Ksenzova with alcohol-containing liquid and accidentally set her on fire. The woman received 45% of body burns and died in the hospital. 

Natalia's daughter, 21-year-old Elena Kseznova, believes that the man intentionally killed her mother - out of jealousy. At the same time, the girl believes that Petrenko intentionally obtained permission to bring up their daughter Polina, who is common with Natalya, in order to receive a minimum punishment. According to Elena, she and her grandmother Svetlana Roslyakova also claimed a child, but were refused.

“Once hit her head on a fence”

According to Elena, in 2017 her mother Natalia divorced her father, and a few months later met with Alexander Petrenko. It turned out that they lived nearby and even once went to the same school.

  • © Photo from the personal archive of Natalia Kseznova

Soon, a new acquaintance of the mother moved to live with the Xenzovs. As the girl recalls, he said from the threshold that he and his nine-year-old brother (Natalia’s youngest son from his first marriage) should be happy that they had a “breadwinner”. However, according to Elena, the man did not become the ideal husband and father. 

According to her, Petrenko drank and raised a hand on her mother.  

“Once he hit her head on the fence,” recalls Kseznova. - There were cases when a drunk came and fell asleep right on the doorstep in the hallway in an embrace with a bottle. And sometimes he didn’t come at all. He smoked in a toilet, threw bull-calves in a toilet bowl and a bathtub. Mom constantly had to clean up for him. "

Elena says that she asked the mother to expel the roommate, but she was pregnant and believed that after the birth of the child, the man will change.

On July 6, 2018, their daughter Polina was born. However, after the birth of the child, scandals only became more.

“And in January he killed his mother,” the girl said.

"Mom is on fire"

The incident occurred on the evening of January 22, 2020. As Petrenko himself assures, it was an accident.

  • © Photo from the personal archive of Natalia Kseznova

According to his testimony, having returned from work, he found Natalya drunk. A quarrel broke out between them, and they went out onto the balcony. There, a man grabbed a bottle of alcohol-containing liquid, which Natalya allegedly drank, and spilled it on it.

Part of the liquid fell on Petrenko’s hands, and they caught fire when the man began to light. According to him, at that moment he accidentally brushed Natalia, and her hair and clothes immediately ignited. The man claims that he tried to save his wife and knocked down the flame from her.

Kzeznova's daughter Elena insists on another version. According to her, her mother was sober, and Alexander started a scandal from scratch, because he was jealous of her to everyone.

“I still left the room and said that I would call the police if he didn’t leave his mother,” Kseznova recalls.

After that, according to the girl, she returned to her room, and soon she heard loud footsteps on the balcony. 

“A minute later, brother Ilya ran into my room. He had a frightened face and shouted: "Mom is on fire." I rushed to the balcony. Mom’s hair and clothes were burning, and he just stood nearby and looked. He did not extinguish it and his hands did not burn. I ran to the bathroom, poured a bucket of water and poured it on my mother, ”says Elena.

After that, the girl called 112 and called an ambulance. According to Elena, while they were waiting for the doctors, she asked her mother: “He set fire to you?”, And she nodded in response.

The doctors who arrived at the call delivered the woman to the intensive care unit. According to Elena, the doctors diagnosed her with 50% of burns of the upper respiratory tract and 45% of body burns. Natalia was introduced into an artificial coma, and on February 4 she died.

“There was no intent to kill”

After the death of Natalia, a criminal case was opened against Petrenko under Part 1 of Art. 109 of the Criminal Code "Causing death by negligence." They did not begin to arrest the man; he was free under his own recognizance.

On April 28, the investigation of the case was completed, and on July 3, the trial began.

Elena believes that the cohabitant of the mother should be tried for murder.

“This is not an accident, it must be judged for the murder. Firstly, he brought this bottle that day with him. Secondly, I did not see him putting out his mother. Thirdly, he constantly changes his testimony, inventing something that does not find confirmation, ”says Elena Kseznova.

Kseznova’s lawyer, Evgenia Dokhnova, told RT that there were many questions left for the investigation.

“For example, the accused claims that he poured only 150 ml of alcohol on Natalia. With this amount, he was able to pour over her shoulders, head, chest and back, as well as pour over the windowsill, which was 30 cm from the woman. How is this possible? ", - Dokhnova is perplexed.

In addition, according to the lawyer, according to the initial testimony of the doctor of the burn department, Natalia said that she was set on fire by Petrenko.

“This is a doctor recorded in a medical record. But later he changed his testimony, and the investigation did not begin to attach the medical record to the case. In addition, the case file indicates that Natalya had only external burns, and there is not a word about the internal ones, ”says Dokhnova.

In turn, the UK believes that all the circumstances of the incident were thoroughly studied. As RT investigator Sergei Tolstolutsky explained to RT, Petrenko accidentally touched a roommate.

“He had no intent to commit the murder,” the investigator said. However, he refused to explain the details of the case.

RT sent a written request to the regional UK.

Returned daughter to father

Elena believes that the killer of her mother is doing everything she can to completely escape responsibility.

So, now he has a dependent on the youngest daughter of Natalia, although immediately after the tragedy, he, according to the girl, refused the girl, and she was taken away by the juvenile commission. 

“I immediately wanted to take Polina to myself, but they refused me: I am not married, I have no work and my own housing. Grandmother decided to become a guardian, but she was told that they would make a decision only after four months, but for now they would observe. They assured that they would not give it to anyone during this time. We were shocked when just a few weeks later the neighbors said that Petrenko suddenly took his sister, walks with her in the yard, although he had refused her before, ”says Elena.

According to her, all complaints did not lead to anything, the guardianship authorities chose to leave Polina with her mother’s killer.

RT contacted Alexander Petrenko, but he did not talk to reporters. His lawyer, Alexei Arutyunov, also declined to comment.

In the department of education of the Pervomaisky district of Rostov-on-Don, RT reported that at the time when they gave the child to their father, he was not under investigation.

The next meeting on the murder of Natalya Ksenzova is scheduled for July 17.