Lawyers are proposing the maximum youth sentence available for a teen who lit her classmate on fire in Saskatoon.
That would be three years from the date she is sentenced, on top of the time she has spent in custody since the date of her arrest on Sept. 5, 2024.
The young offender was in Court of King’s Bench on Thursday for her sentencing hearing, which included emotional victim impact statements from her family, fellow students and staff members at Evan Hardy Collegiate.
Some students and staff had to transfer out of the school after the violent attack on the second day of classes in 2024, court heard Thursday.
“I can no longer be in a place where I once felt secure, without being overwhelmed,” said one student, who said they continue to live with the consequences of the incident every day.
The young offender, the victim and the other young witnesses can’t be named under the provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act. At the time, the perpetrator was 14 and the victim was 15. Both are 16 years old now.
The planned hallway attack
On Sept. 5, 2024, the attacker brought a water bottle to school that was filled with gasoline. When the lunch bell rang and the hallway filled with students, the teen poured the gas over the victim’s head and lit it on fire, court previously heard.
The girl suffered burns to 40 per cent of her body and spent months in hospital, but survived.
A teacher who jumped in to smother the flames was also burned.
In December, the teen pleaded guilty to attempted murder of the victim and unlawfully causing bodily harm to the teacher.
Signs in support of the victim and the Evan Hardy community began accumulating outside the high school on Sept. 6, 2024. (Travis Reddaway/CBC)
On Thursday, the Crown and defence jointly recommended an intensive rehabilitation and custody supervision order. It’s a specialized sentence available under the Youth Criminal Justice Act for serious crimes.
On a charge of attempted murder, the maximum sentence allowable under such an order is three years from the date of sentencing. In this case, it would consist of two years of secure custody followed by one year of community supervision.
Just weeks after the attack in the fall of 2024, the Crown provided notice in court that it would seek an adult sentence for the teen. The maximum sentence for an adult convicted of attempted murder is life in prison.
On Thursday, Crown prosecutor Zachary Huywan explained why the Crown changed its position to recommend the youth sentence.
“That position, to a large portion of the public, is probably shocking,” Huywan said.
He referred to a recent decision from the Supreme Court of Canada that directly addressed when it’s appropriate to sentence a youth as an adult. It emphasized that the criminal justice system for young persons is based on the principle of “diminished moral blameworthiness or culpability” and the Crown must rebut that assumption “beyond a reasonable doubt” in any specific case, Huywan said.
Lawyers made their sentencing submissions Thursday at Saskatoon Court of King’s Bench in the case of a teen who lit her classmate on fire. (Trevor Bothorel/CBC )
In this case, the young offender was 14 years old and lacked social and emotional maturity. She has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, early onset schizophrenia, cannabis use disorder and pyromania disorder.
The Crown is bound to bring matters to court that have a reasonable likelihood of success, and all lower courts are bound by the Supreme Court decision, Huywan said.
Defence lawyers Fola Adelugba and Jonathan Stockdale represented the young offender. Adelugba noted it’s rare for the defence to agree to the maximum sentence.
But she argued that the full length of the intensive youth sentence would offer the best chances for rehabilitation and structured reintegration into the community.
“That is how we protect the public in the long run,” she said.
The young offender stood and read a prepared apology in court on Thursday.
“I know sorry is not enough, but it is how I truly feel,” she said. “I want to apologize for those who were affected by my actions.”
Justice Krista Zerr said she needs some time to consider the case and reserved her decision until March 16.
‘I’m still alive’: victim
Before the lawyers made their submissions, court heard about the impacts of the crime from family members, fellow students and staff members.
The victim was not in the courtroom, but watched the proceedings via video link from another room in the courthouse.
Her parents, however, were in the front row in the courtroom. They gave a victim impact statement on their own behalf and read one that their daughter had written.
“I’m still alive,” the victim’s mother said loudly, reading her daughter’s words.
“I’m left-handed now. I really didn’t like talking to people in the first place, but now I don’t want to even make an effort because I look different and my voice sounds different from before I was lit on fire.”
The teen wrote that she is more afraid of large crowds and doesn’t like to be around strangers. She said her time in the hospital during her recovery was full of pain and discomfort.
“Getting back to school was difficult. I started at a new school, so that means new people and new surroundings,” she wrote. “It’s all very overwhelming, but getting into a routine once again is nice.”
LISTEN | Teen who was set on fire at high school describes harrowing experience:
RAW AUDIO | Girl describes being set on fire in Saskatoon school
A 15-year-old who was set on fire at Evan Hardy Collegiate describes the harrowing experience.
Her close friend, who had also been harassed by the attacker, stood in court to give her statement on Thursday.
She said the worst part is having flashbacks to that day, and remembering how numb she felt.
Incident haunts educational assistant
The educational assistant who had been monitoring the young offender that day also spoke in court.
She spoke for nearly 20 minutes about the trauma she’s experienced, saying that day will be forever etched in her mind. She tried to return to work at Evan Hardy after the incident, but realized that being in the building was too triggering for her, she said.
She also said she had enjoyed watching the offender improve in the months she worked with her during the previous school year, and she hopes the teen receives the help she needs.
“My heart broke that day and continues to ache,” she said, adding that she hopes the teen knows how badly she wishes she could have known what was going on with her.
“But it’s too late,” the woman said. “She cannot hide from the consequences of this.”
Agreed statement of facts
The Crown read a 40-minute agreed statement of facts into the record in December. Prosecutor Zachary Huywan read them again on Thursday.
Court heard the victim had befriended the attacker the year before, but ended the friendship due to constant texting. After that, the perpetrator began threatening her and another friend.
The victim described the school break in 2024 as a summer of harassment, including threats to make the victim’s life “a living hell.”
She and her friend talked to their parents, and they went to police and school officials with their concerns.
WATCH | Parents say police, school had multiple warnings before teen was burned:
Parents say police, school had multiple warnings before teen was burned at Saskatoon school
The parents of two 15-year-old girls at Evan Hardy Collegiate in Saskatoon say they went to police and the school multiple times between June and August 2024 with concerns about escalating online threats from the student now accused of setting one of the girls on fire in a school hallway.
The school developed a safety plan that included bag checks for the teen offender and patting her down for weapons before school. The bag checks, however, did not include inspecting the contents of the teen’s black metal water bottle.
On Sept. 5, 2024, the teen arrived at school for second period, but was late for class so didn’t go in. She instead walked around in the hallways with a teacher.
During the third period, the teen was still in the hallways with a staff member, but her behaviour was troubling. Staff decided to call the teen’s family to come and pick her up.
When the lunch bell rang, the staff members could tell “something was happening,” but did not anticipate what did happen, court heard.
The teen barged through the staff and poured the contents of her bottle over the victim’s head, then pulled out a lighter and lit the liquid on fire.
“The voices told me to do it,” the teen offender told police after the attack.
The victim suffered significant scarring to her face, arms, torso and hands, and has required multiple surgeries. (Chanss Lagaden/CBC)
The victim was airlifted to a burn unit in Edmonton, where she stayed for six weeks. She was later moved to Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon, where she stayed until shortly before Christmas 2024.Â
She suffered significant scarring to her face, arms, torso and hands and has required multiple surgeries.
She shared her story with CBC in March 2025, talking about the long, hard work of the physical recovery and her determination to continue playing guitar, despite the difficulties caused by her injuries.
Her parents also questioned how police and the school handled the warnings leading up to the attack.