Ontario man faces life sentence, deportation for setting estranged wife on fire

In a Toronto courtroom Thursday, Norbert Budai had one last chance to address the court before being sent to a federal penitentiary to start serving a life sentence with no eligibility for parole until he’s served 25 years in prison.

“I would like to apologize,” said Budai through a Hungarian translator.

“I know there is no excuse for it and I cannot start again. I would like to find a way to get back to how it used to be. As time passes, I realize I cannot go back to the beginning. I think that it was an unplanned series of events.”

The 41-year-old Hungarian refugee, who came to Canada with his common-law wife Henrietta Viski and the couple’s three children in 2019, was found guilty last month of first-degree murder after killing Viski, from whom he was estranged.

He faces being deported if he completes his prison sentence and is granted parole.

On June 17, 2022, Budai broke into the Toronto Community Housing unit on Chester Le Boulevard where Viski and the couple’s three children lived and doused Viski with gasoline. As she ran out of the unit, Budai lit her on fire.

Two of the couple’s three children witnessed the attack, including one teenage daughter who called 911. Viski was rushed to hospital but died the next day.

Testifying in his own defence, Budai argued he was drunk on vodka and high on fentanyl and never meant to kill his wife, but Justice Jane Kelly rejected his evidence and found him guilty of the planned and deliberate murder.

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During the trial, Budai, who had no fixed address, testified he was upset about the breakup.

“At the time of Viski’s death, he believed she was involved with someone else,” Kelly said.

“Something she was wholly entitled to do. She had dyed her hair red. He associated her hair with infidelity. He admitted he was jealous and wanted to remove that hair and that is why he said he lit her on fire. Prompted by that jealousy, he went to her home, broke down the door, doused her with gasoline and lit her on fire.”

Court also heard that in 2021, Budai was charged and convicted on three counts of uttering threats and two counts of failing to comply with a release order. All five offences were related to Viski.

“His conduct shows that he wholly disregarded the court orders that were meant to protect Viski,” Kelly told the court. “He was on probation at the time he committed the murder.”

Kelly said Budai’s jealousy was even obvious when he set Viski on fire. “He wrestled with her, managing to remove a clump of her red hair. A grim reminder of the reason for Mr. Budai committing a crime of stark horror … jealousy,” Kelly said.

While none of the three children chose to deliver victim impact statements, the judge noted that it doesn’t take much imagination to understand the pain and disbelief they must feel when they consider how their father murdered their mother.

Video surveillance which captured Budai lighting Viski on fire was so horrifying to watch that Budai even testified that he didn’t want to see it when it was played in court. Kelly recalled that Budai had testified, “I don’t want to look at the video because the knowledge of this will be with me for the rest of my life.”

Kelly reminded the court that it is easy to simply view the victim as deceased and lose sight of the fact that Viski was a person who had hopes, dreams and aspirations.

“I am certain that she was loved and was a loving mother and daughter,” Kelly said. “The Budai family came to Canada for a better life. In the span of a few minutes, the children lost their mother to murder and their father to a life sentence of no less than 25 years.”

The judge said the level of violence exacted in this case of intimate partner violence has also affected the community, especially where the community where Viski lived. The act of dousing her on fire and lighting her on fire was witnessed by neighbours, one of whom tried to extinguish the flames with a garden hose.

She also noted that first responders would have been affected.

“One can hear a first responder expressing horror and dismay when the 911 call was played,” Kelly told the court.

As the judge asked Budai to stand up, he looked down at the ground as she told him that a life sentence was “entirely appropriate in the circumstances.”

In addition, Budai will be added to the DNA databank, which has a lifetime weapons ban. She added that he could have no communication with his two daughters and his son, except with prior written or oral consent from Corrections Canada.

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