The third trial of a man accused of dousing his ex-girlfriend with gasoline and setting her on fire ended in a guilty verdict yesterday.

The first two trials of Kim R. Massey ended in mistrials last year and early this year when Circuit Court juries could not agree on verdicts.

In the second trial, the jury did acquit Massey of an attempted murder charge, so this month he was tried on a charge of first-degree arson.

"This was a heinous, egregious crime," Senior Deputy Prosecutor Maurice Arrisgado said.

The victim, Marie Siarot, 54, was "permanently disfigured by what the defendant did to her," Arrisgado said.

Siarot and Massey had a four-year "on-again, off-again relationship" but were no longer a couple when the attack occurred, according to the prosecutor.

She was helping him move belongings out of a house he owned in the Honokai Hale residential development near Kapolei when an argument developed over the value that should be placed on some of the items at a garage sale, Arrisgado said.

"He went into a rage," Arrisgado said.

"The evidence was very strong, the victim was credible and the defendant told too many different stories," the prosecutor said.

"The jury saw the truth in the case," he said.

Massey faces up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced in January by Circuit Judge Steven Alm.