Teen admits to splashing Saskatoon schoolmate with lighter fluid, setting her on fire

SASKATOON — It was a teen friendship that spiralled into obsession and threats before one girl — in a school hallway with a squirt of igniter fluid and a lighter — burned another girl so badly that skin melted off her arms and fused her backpack to her clothes.

In court Monday, a 16-year-old pleaded guilty to attempted murder for the lunchtime attack on a former friend at Saskatoon’s Evan Hardy Collegiate in September 2024.

The attacker also pleaded guilty to unlawfully causing bodily harm of a teacher who came to the victim’s aid.

The attacker sat in court dressed in a hoodie, as Justice Krista Zerr ensured the teen understood the gravity of her pleas.

“Do you understand that by pleading guilty, you are giving up your right to a trial? And so the next step in the process is for me to sentence you?” the judge asked.

“Yes,” the girl replied.

Neither the attacker nor the victim can be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

The attacker was 14 at the time, and the victim was 15.

One witness said flames spread within seconds from the victim’s hair and face to her shoulders, back and stomach as she screamed, “Help!”

She frantically patted her hair, but that only caused the flames to spread to her hands.

Teachers arrived, telling the girl to drop to the ground and roll. Court heard one teacher took off his shirt and used it to swat at the flames on the victim, while other staff grabbed items of clothing and joined in trying to put out the fire.

Finally, the flames were out. The victim lay in the smoky hallway, coughing and screaming, “I can’t breathe!”

She kept telling the teachers she wanted her mom.

The fire mangled her hands and face, burned skin from her arms and left her hair “crispy.” Teachers used scissors to cut off her melted backpack.

The girl was hospitalized in serious condition with burns, and the teacher who tried to help was also seriously injured with burns to his hands.

Court heard some witnesses overheard the attacker saying the victim deserved it.

The victim was not in court Monday. Her aunt, reading a statement from the family, later told reporters that the victim’s life has been changed forever.

“The horror of what has happened will never disappear. Our daughter will always wear the evidence of these crimes,” the aunt said.

“It is our hope that events like this never happen again and that children can feel safe no matter where they may be.

Crown prosecutor Ainsley Furlonger read out an agreed statement of facts in court, saying the two girls had been friends but the victim ended the friendship after the attacker lit the roof of the school library on fire.

Court also heard the attacker had harassed the victim to the point of obsession, wanting to know why the victim no longer wanted to be friends and making threats.

The victim’s parents contacted police. The school became aware and arranged for the attacker and her school bags to be searched.

There were other red flags.

The attacker had attempted suicide in the months before. Court was told she was harming herself. When at school, she was under constant supervision by an aide.

The day of the fire attack, two aides were with the attacker as she paced outside the victim’s classroom. Court heard the aides felt something was amiss.

The bell rang. Students filed out. The aides stood between the attacker and the former friend.

But the attacker pushed past them, sprayed the fluid at the victim and lit the blaze, court heard.

After, the attacker was escorted to an autism room, where she was seen rocking back and forth, wearing a blanket over her bra and pants with burn injuries, saying, “The voices told me to do it.”

The victim spent six weeks in an Edmonton hospital before returning to Saskatoon. Court heard she has had surgeries, including one last week.

Following the attacker’s arrest, court heard school staff opened her locker and found a knife and binder with journal entries detailing her disdain for the victim. On her phone, police found pictures of the victim and screenshots of her social media account.

Sentencing is set for Feb. 26, and the judge has ordered a psychological assessment.

The Crown had previously planned to ask that the attacker be sentenced as an adult, which would carry a more severe penalty. Court heard it is no longer doing so.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 15, 2025.

Jeremy Simes, The Canadian Press