Black Who Was Set Afire Points Out Attackers

Christopher Wilson stood soaked with gasoline in a dusty field and heard his white attackers use a racial slur and tell him he was about to die. For an agonizing few seconds, the black tourist heard the clicks of matches, then a lighter, and then a “foomp.”

“It was like when you’re lighting a stove,” the 32-year-old stock brokerage clerk from New York City described to a jury Friday. “You feel this tremendous heat. I can’t even describe it--you feel pain all over. You hurt so much. I felt like my whole body was on fire.”

As the Jamaican immigrant testified in a calm, measured tone about his New Year’s Day ordeal near Tampa, some among the six-member jury bowed their heads.

“ ‘I never did anything to anybody,’ ” Wilson said he cried before he was ignited. “ ‘Why are you doing this to me?’ ”

Later, Wilson identified defendant Mark Kohut as the assailant he described as “bright eyes.” And he identified co-defendant Charles Rourk as the “mean one” who showered him with gasoline from a plastic jug.

Wilson’s testimony in their attempted murder trial is important to the state case that has been riddled with problems. There is no physical evidence tying Kohut and Rourk to the scene. And an 18-year-old originally charged in the incident, Jeffery Pellett, has admitted lying about the case and said he would lie again to protect himself.

If convicted of attempted murder, kidnaping and robbery, Kohut, 27, and Rourk, 33, could face life in prison. They were arrested six days after the attack when Pellett confessed first to his mother, and then to police.

During his testimony, Wilson rolled up his shirt sleeves so jurors could see the burns, which cover nearly 40% of his body. He told them of the skin grafts he underwent to repair his wounds.

Under questioning from Assistant State Atty. Eric Myers, Wilson said the ordeal began when he went to buy a newspaper on New Year’s morning.

As he pulled his car up to the newspaper box, he saw a white vehicle pull along side.

“The next thing I felt was a gun to my neck--the person said, ‘Don’t move. . . . Drive.’ ”

At a remote field, Wilson said, he caught a glimpse of his attackers before they told him to look away. He said he first felt a wetness on his back and then was showered over his head with gasoline.

Matches began to strike behind him and then apparently fizzled. He was told to crouch in the back seat when he heard the click of a lighter and then felt the flames.