Domestic violence survivor Kirsten Moiler has spoken out for the first time after her former husband Peter Moiler was convicted this week for setting her alight while she sat in her car outside the home the couple once shared.
Kirsten had just ended the couple’s relationship after 11 years of marriage and had sought a restraining on the same day Moiler doused her in flammable liquid and set her on fire in June, 2023.
The ordeal left Kirsten with partial and full-thickness burns to 38 per cent of her body.
Moiler fought the charges against him at trial, but this week a jury found him guilty of grievous bodily harm with intent.
In and exclusive interview with 9News Perth, Kirsten said she refused to lay down and die or suffer for the rest of her life.
Asked about Moiler’s guilty verdict, Kirsten said she didn’t know if relief was the right word, “it’s just good that justice is being done after all this time”.
She said she felt she couldn’t get away from Moiler during their tumultuous relationship, which was made worse by drug abuse.
“When you’re so conditioned and broken down over many years, anything other than what you think about yourself is what you will believe,” she said.
Kirsten said she would “forever regret” returning to the family home in Mount Helena to invite her estranged husband to do burnouts in a bid to maintain a friendship, “and possibly even co-parent”.
Of the fire, Kirsten said “it did literally feel like I had a thousand needles ripping my skin off”.
“The heat and the pain was something I’ve never ever felt before, ever in my entire life,” she said.
“The mental toll is quite actually difficult; I don’t go shipping by myself, I don’t go anywhere by myself, I have a hard time being around men.”
But Kirsten said she was “the most excited I’ve been in my life” as she worked to move on after the horrific attack, and hoped her story would encourage others to speak up.
Moiler is due to be sentenced today.
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