(London) A man accused of murdering his former lover by pouring gasoline over his head and then setting him on fire has told a jury he is innocent.

Davies, 23, suffered burns to 75 percent of his body and died in the hospital 12 days after the attack last June. The prosecution alleges that Kurrimbukus killed Davies in retaliation after Davies ended their relationship.

At his trial, Kurrimbukus calmly denied the accusations.

“You were there to commit a horrific act of violence against Charlie Davies. On that evening you had access to petrol, bottles and transport. You were a jealous man,” prosecutor Victor Temple said.

In a clear, calm voice Kurrimbukus replied, “I had nothing to do with Charlie’s murder.”

Temple also accused him of lying to investigators, lying to police about his whereabouts until confronted with phone evidence which placed him at the scene.

Kurrimbukus attempted to refute evidence presented earlier in the trial by police that during questioning Dulloo said that Kurrimbukus had admitted the killing the following day.

“In Islam you are not allowed to be gay. There’s such a thing as an honor killing. Dulloo’s lying as a punishment. He is trying to punish me after he found out about my sexuality,” Kurrimbukus told the court.

Last week, the court was given evidence from a police interview with Dulloo in which he said that Kurrimbukus told him he had “lit the guy.”

According to the police account of Dulloo’s questioning he said: “I’m listening to the radio and then I hear kind of like a scream… then he comes back and he is like as if he has been running. But I didn’t account that to anything to do with the screaming.”

Earlier in the trial one of Davies’ neighbors described seeing him engulfed in a “big ball of fire.”

The woman, whose name is being withheld for her own safety, told the murder trial this week that she was coming home and as she approached Davies’ home she heard screams and saw him stumbling down his driveway on fire.

She also testified that she saw a man running down a nearby alley.

“He covered his face, first of all he had his hood up, he had sunglasses on and then he had something covering the from the tip of his nose across the face,” she told the court.

She said she and other neighbors called for help but Davies had suffered massive burns.

The trial continues.