Teen handed three-year sentence for attempted murder at Saskatoon school

A 16-year-old girl was handed a three-year sentence on Monday for lighting a fellow student on fire at Saskatoon’s Evan Hardy Collegiate in 2024.

Last month, the Crown and defence jointly requested a three-year sentence for the attacker: two years in custody and one in the community with no credit for time already served, which would be the maximum sentence for attempted murder under Canada’s Youth Criminal Justice Act. That sentence was imposed on Monday.

Read more:

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• Teen pleads guilty to setting fellow student on fire at Saskatoon high school

In December, the teen, who cannot be named due to provisions of Canada’s Youth Criminal Justice Act, also pleaded guilty to unlawfully causing bodily harm to a teacher who tried to help the victim during the attack.

During the sentencing hearing last month, the victim – who also cannot be named publicly – shared an impact statement with the court, describing the severity of her injuries from the attack and explaining how they have impacted her physically, mentally and emotionally. She told the court, in a statement read aloud by her parents, that the burns which covered about 40 per cent of her body have changed the way she looks and sounds.

The victim said she is more anxious in crowds, has dealt with extreme physical pain and has had to navigate moving to a new school.

At the time of the attack, the victim was 14 years old and the attacker was 15.

An agreed statement of facts read in court in December explained that the two girls had once been friends, but the victim ended the friendship after the attacker lit the roof of the school library on fire. The court also heard the victim was harassed obsessively after that relationship ended, with the victim’s parents even contacting the police at one point.

That statement of facts also noted that the attacker had a history of poor mental health before the incident and had been under constant supervision while attending the school after concerns were reported to the police.

Saskatoon Public Schools has shared various improvements the division has implemented since the attack in order to improve safety and mental health support for students.

Speaking after February’s sentencing hearing, the mother of the victim spoke of her daughter’s courage following the attack and voiced a hope for more peace for their family after the court process is behind them.

The mother also said more action by the school division and authorities should have been taken in the days and months after the attack in order to support their daughter.

Maximum sentence ‘appropriate’: Crown

Crown prosecutor, Zachary Huywan, acknowledged the court went along with the joint submission in its sentencing decision, speaking to reporters after the proceedings concluded.

Huywan called it an “appropriate disposition,” from the Crown’s perspective.

“It’s reflective of the severity of the offense and the impact that it had on the victim the broader community,” he said.

“In so doing, we we wanted to keep in mind that level of severity and so a maximum sentence, as allowable under the youth Criminal Justice Act, was the appropriate disposition in the circumstance.”

When asked why the Crown decided to not pursue adult sentencing for the teen, Huywan said the Crown has an obligation to continually assess clarifications that occur in the law.

He said a decision by the Supreme Court of Canada released in July that was cited in the judge’s decision dealt with explicit criteria that needed to be satisfied in order to seek an adult sentence.

“With the particular circumstances of the offender, it was not a pathway that we could pursue an longer,” Huywan explained. “It became clear we would be proceeding under the Youth Criminal Justice Act and, at that point, the plan shifts to negotiating or finding a sentence.”

Huywan said the victim’s family is “disappointed but understanding,” about those circumstances.

“There was a lot of assessment and time that goes into a determination like that. It’s not lost on the crown the severity of it or nor the public scrutiny however we are bound by the law and in the circumstance, this is still the maximum sentence available,” Huywan said.

The sentence given to the attacker is an intensive rehabilitative custody supervision sentence (IRCS), which Huywan explained deals with the offence as well as its underlying factors.

He said the intense rehabilitative component allows a plan-based approach, dealing with the specific nature of the offending as well as the offender in order to develop a care and treatment plan specific to the needs of the case. The goal of the sentence is to eradicate the possibility of future offences by the offender.

‘The weight in my chest will never leave’

Outside of the courthouse a friend of the victim — whose identity is protected under a publication ban — said this case shows what happens when students’ concerns are not taken seriously.

“We shouldn’t have to fight this hard just to be heard and to feel safe in our own school,” the 16-year-old girl said.

“Although the court process is all over, the weight in my chest will never leave.”

The mother of the victims’ friend read a statement on behalf of the family that expressed disappointment in the length of the sentence.

“We hope the offender gets the rehabilitation she needs (and) we hope we can trust the IRCS program to hold the offender until she poses no threat to anyone and not one day sooner,” she said.

The statement said the family can now focus on supporting the victims’ healing journey.

“We did everything we thought we could to prevent this tragedy (and) no one should have gotten hurt.”

— with files from 650 CKOM’s Mia Holowaychuk