Man set on fire by Brooklyn neighbor over debt had already repaid: sister (EXCLUSIVE)

A Brooklyn man set on fire by his neighbor over a debt had been harassed about the money for months — even though the loan had already been paid back, according to the victim’s distraught sister.

Steven Wilks, 73, remains at Staten Island University Hospital after Denise Wylie, 62, allegedly doused him in gasoline and lit him aflame in their Brownsville supportive housing building.

Wilks was so frightened after he was set on fire he hid in his bed and so wasn’t treated immediately, according to his sister, Patricia Davis, 69.

“He owed $100 and then she made it become $500. Street money, interest,” said Davis, who says in October she paid Wylie the $100 her brother owed the suspect.

“I let his case manager know about it,” she added. “They had a meeting with her. She signed the paper and I signed the paper that the money was paid.”

Despite getting the cash and signing the agreement, Wylie insisted Wilks still owed her, the sister says.

“She’s telling him its $5 (hundred) and she’s telling [staff] it’s $1 (hundred),” said Davis. “She acts one way in front of [staff] and another with him.”

Wilks is a former city correction officer who suffers from mental illness, making him an easy mark, Davis said.

“He’s not violent. He’s very passive, actually. He don’t cause any problems,” she said. “What she’s been doing is coming to his house at night and harassing him.”

On Sunday, Wylie went from her sixth-floor apartment to Wilks’ home on the second floor of the Chester St. building near Riverdale Ave. and once more demanded the money, according to cops. When Wilks said he didn’t have it but would pay her the following day, Wylie allegedly poured gasoline on his face and back and lit a match.

“I didn’t get a call until later,” said Davis. “When they found him he was under the covers. He got in the bed after the incident. I guess he panicked and he didn’t think to call the security.”

“He did fall on the floor and roll his body to get the fire out but he has some very bad wounds,” she added.

Police caught up with Wylie on Monday and charged her with attempted murder. Following an arraignment in Brooklyn Criminal Court, she was held on a $500,000 bail.

Wilks ended up with second- and third-degree burns. He had surgery on his arm Wednesday, Davis said.

“I just want the pain to subside,” she said. “His arm is very, very bad. The hole is very deep. They had to graft skin to put on his arm.”

In addition to the physical damage, Wilks’ sister is worried about the mental toll of the ordeal.

“This is a trauma for him to have to go through this,” she said. “He’s going to be afraid to go back there,. He’ll probably think she’s still there. He might not even want to come outside. For $400, this is the rest of his life.”

Davis had warned her brother and Wylie to stay away from each other after the $100 was repaid, she said.

“I said, ‘Don’t talk to her.’ I said, ‘I don’t want any problems and I don’t want you talking to him. If he asks you to borrow a penny, don’t do it.'”

Davis recalled a now-chilling conversation she had with her brother over the debt before it was paid.

“He said, ‘Please pay for the money because she’s dangerous.’ I kind of know how he talks and I didn’t take it so seriously,” she said.

“I would have never thought this in a million years. Everybody else I’ve told so far can’t believe another human being can even think to do this.”

With Thomas Tracy