TORONTO - A 30-year-old man accused of stabbing his ex-girlfriend to death and setting her on fire was on house arrest for allegedly beating up the 27-year-old woman just weeks earlier.

Det.-Sgt. Brian Borg said the woman, whose name has not yet been released because she hasn't been positively identified, was walking to her parked car to head to work around 4 a.m. Saturday when she was brutally attacked.

She was stabbed, doused with "a flammable substance" and set on fire, Borg said.

"The intensity of that fire has virtually left her body unrecognizable," he said.

An autopsy has since determined the woman died of stab wounds.

Within hours of the grisly killing, Emmanuel Owusu-Ansah was arrested at a Mississauga, Ont., gas station, Borg said.

He is charged with first-degree murder.

On Dec. 5, Owusu-Ansah was charged with three counts of assault, two counts each of assault with a weapon and weapons dangerous, and one count of threatening death for an alleged attack on his ex.

Owusu-Ansah was released on bail Dec. 12 and ordered to remain under house arrest as he awaited his Jan. 30 court appearance on those charges.

He appeared in court Sunday and is expected to appear again Tuesday.

Despite the arrest, Borg said the investigation is "by no means" concluded.