Sask. teen who allegedly set classmate on fire scheduled to plea next month

Teen faces new charge in high school arson attack

A teen girl who allegedly set her classmate on fire is set to make a plea at Saskatoon Provincial Court next month.

On Sept. 5, a 15-year-old girl was doused in a flammable substance and lit on fire at Evan Hardy Collegiate.

A 14-year-old girl has been charged with attempted murder, arson and aggravated assault.

She’s also been charged with unlawfully causing bodily harm, related to a teacher who was injured while attempting to put out the flames.

The girl, whose name cannot be published under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, is scheduled to make a plea on Feb. 13 — about five months since the incident occurred.

Crown Prosecutor Ainsley Furlonger said she wants to see “things progress.”

“I did inquire with the case manager’s office, just to get a sense of time to trial,” Furlonger told the court.

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She said the earliest trial dates available, right now, would be in July.

Furlonger’s comments come as court delays have been in the spotlight in Saskatoon.

Last month, a judge stayed Taylor Kennedy’s charge of impaired driving causing death because Kennedy was not tried within a reasonable time.

Weeks later, in the first-degree murder trial for Summer-Sky Henry and Cheyann Peeteetuce, the judge sharply criticized the time it took to get to trial.

“We are not ending up like the recent Kennedy trial,” Danyliuk said, on Jan. 6.

The teen appeared virtually, from jail, as the lawyers set new court dates. The student has new counsel, after her original lawyer moved from Saskatoon.

Fola Adelugba, from Legal Aid, will now be representing the girl.