The "djinn" alibi collapses: 20 years imprisonment requested for a man who attempted to burn his wife alive

The Criminal Chamber of the High Court of Thiès examined a case of extreme gravity on Tuesday, July 28, 2026. K. Faye appeared before the court on charges of arson, trespassing, and attempted murder of his wife, MD Diop.

The events took place on the night of October 4-5, 2023 in Tivaouane. According to the prosecution, the defendant, a shoe seller at the Colobane market in Dakar, broke into his wife's home by climbing the perimeter wall, before attempting to set fire to the room where she was sleeping with two young children.

Alerted by the incident, the victim reviewed the footage from the security cameras installed in the compound. Claiming to have positively identified her husband, she filed a complaint with the gendarmerie, triggering an investigation that led to K. Faye's arrest in Dakar.

Overwhelming physical and telephone evidence

During the preliminary investigation, the suspect reportedly admitted to going to Tivaouane to see his wife. Investigators emphasize that he admitted to entering the house with the intention of staging a fire of mystical origin, which he attributed to a "djinn."

The search of his Dakar residence allowed the gendarmes to seize clothing, shoes, a backpack identical to those seen in the video footage, and a box of matches. These items, placed under seal and presented in court, were corroborated by phone records, which placed the accused's phone in Tivaouane around 2:00 a.m., the exact time of the events.

In court, K. Faye radically changed his story and rejected all the accusations. While acknowledging the existence of a marital dispute that led his wife to move to Tivaouane to file for divorce, he maintained that he had only gone there once to try to reason with her.

Asked to explain the seized clothing, the accused claimed that it did not belong to him and was not his size. The judge then suspended the hearing to order him to try it on. When the hearing resumed, the accused reappeared wearing the clothes in question, which fit him perfectly. Despite this demonstration, K. Faye maintained his denials.

The victim's chilling account and the prosecutor's requests

In turn, the victim, MD Diop, gave a poignant testimony: “A week after a first failed attempt at reconciliation, he returned in the middle of the night. I smelled a strong odor of gasoline. He was behind the window and sprayed me and the mattress with gasoline. When he tried to set it on fire, the flames reached him and the gasoline bottle exploded. It was this explosion that alerted us, the two children and me. We managed to get out of the room before the fire spread,” she recounted.

In his closing arguments, the public prosecutor stated that the defendant's guilt was beyond doubt. Emphasizing that only the accidental explosion of the gasoline container had prevented a massacre in a room occupied by the woman and two minors, the prosecutor requested a 20-year prison sentence for K. Faye.

The defense, led by lawyers Sy, Deh, and Ndiaye, argued for acquittal based on reasonable doubt. The team of lawyers contested the probative value of the video recordings and telephone transcripts, maintaining that no evidence definitively proved intent to kill.

The verdict has been set for September 7, 2026.