SASKATOON — A teen who set a girl on fire at a Saskatoon high school is scheduled to be sentenced today.
The 16-year-old girl pleaded guilty last year to attempted murder in the lunchtime attack of her former friend at Evan Hardy Collegiate in September 2024.
Court heard the friendship had spiralled into obsession and threats before the offender doused the victim with lighter fluid and set her ablaze in a hallway.
The victim, who was 15 at the time, was severely burned on her arms and face and required multiple surgeries.
The offender also pleaded guilty to unlawfully causing bodily harm to a teacher who came to the victim’s aid.
Neither the victim nor the attacker, who was 14 at the time, can be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
Both Crown and defence lawyers have recommended the maximum youth sentence of three years, with two years in intensive rehabilitative custody and one year in the community with supervision.
Defence lawyer Fola Adelugba told court her client had faced hardships at home, including sexual abuse.
Adelugba said the girl has various psychological conditions, including early-onset schizophrenia, autism and pyromania.
The offender has also apologized.
“I know sorry is not enough, but it is how I truly feel. I am aware that everyone, or most of everyone, will not forgive me,” she told court on Feb. 26.
Court also heard that day from the victim, who is now 16.
She wrote in a victim impact statement she’s now left-handed. She also had to learn how to sit up and walk again. Her voice has also changed.
“I’m more afraid of large crowds. I used to enjoy going to the (exhibition) and going on rides, but now I don’t want to be around people, especially strangers,” she wrote in the statement that was read aloud by her mother.
Her mother told the hearing that the burns caused 40 per cent of her daughter’s skin to peel off, requiring skin grafts. The girl received six surgeries in the first six weeks and scars developed on her vocal cords.
“All she could do was whisper,” said the mother. “We are still haunted by her screams as her dressings were being changed, the fear in her eyes as she saw her skin for the first time, and then to see her face for the first time.”
Court heard the fire left the girl’s hair “crispy” and that teachers used scissors to cut her melted backpack from her clothes.
The victim’s older brother, who also attended the school, said in his victim impact statement that he remembers seeing an orange glow in the hallway.
“Finding out that it was coming from my sister was horrific,” he wrote.
Court heard that educational assistants were with the attacker before she barged by them and set the victim on fire. One had told court she wished she could have done more to help.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 16, 2026.
Jeremy Simes, The Canadian Press
