Man who set woman on fire aboard Toronto bus found not criminally responsible for her death

The man who set a woman on fire at a Toronto transit station two years ago has been found not criminally responsible for her death and will now be detained in a hospital setting.

The decision was handed to Tenzin Norbu by Ontario Superior Court Justice Maureen Forestell in Toronto on Tuesday. Norbu was charged with first-degree murder in the death of Nyima Dolma in July 2022 after dousing the 28-year-old woman in lighter fluid and igniting the substance aboard a bus at Kipling Station.

At the outset of his trial on Monday, both Crown prosecutors and Norbu’s lawyers asked Forestell to find Norbu not criminally responsible for Dolma’s death, arguing that a “long-standing” psychotic state rendered him incapable of fully understanding what he’d done.

In her decision, read out to the court on Tuesday, Forestell accepted the joint submission.

“I have concluded […] that Mr. Norbu was not criminally responsible on account of [a] mental disorder when he killed Ms. Dolma,” Forestell told the court. “His psychosis rendered him incapable of accessing rational choice at the time. He was unable to distinguish right from wrong as a result of his psychotic symptoms.”

On June 17, 2022, Dolma, commuting to her job as a caregiver, was sitting near the back of a bus at Kipling Station when Norbu boarded and stood behind her, according to an agreed statement of facts presented as part of proceedings. In an interaction that lasted mere minutes, Norbu, who immigrated to Canada in 2008, asked the woman if she was Tibetan before removing a mason jar of lighter fluid from his backpack, dousing her in it, and igniting the substance.

Norbu followed Dolma as she ran from the bus to the platform. He then removed his shirt and yelled ‘Free Tibet’ in front of a crowd of approximately 50 bystanders, the court heard.

Dolma suffered burns to 60 per cent of her body, covering her face, neck, arms, and legs. The incident was captured in its entirety on TTC surveillance footage but was not tendered as evidence in the case to protect against further collateral trauma.

Norbu was arrested in the hours after the incident, having fled down a set of exterior subway tracks. Toronto police first charged him with attempted murder in connection with the incident.

Dolma died on July 5, 2022, after 18 days in hospital. She was 28 years old. At that time, police upgraded Norbu’s charge to first-degree murder.

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Police say 28-year-old Nyima Dolma, pictured, died of her injuries in hospital July 5 after being set on fire by a stranger at Kipling Subway Station on June 17, 2022. (Handout /Toronto Police)

At trial on Monday, Dr. Alina Iosif, a forensic psychiatrist who reviewed Norbu’s medical files and assessed his mental condition, told the court she believed Norbu had been suffering from schizophrenia when he attacked Dolma. For nearly a decade prior to the offence, he’d displayed psychotic behaviour to both counsellors and physicians but remained undiagnosed, she said.

Over that period, Norbu experienced repeated delusions, including ongoing preoccupations with Tibetan politics, fire, and his sexuality, and, on several occasions, revealed to doctors a desire to set himself on fire, Iosif testified.

“I see these themes as almost obsessional,” the psychiatrist said. “The cornerstone of these themes is anchored in psychosis.”

In light of Forestell’s decision, Norbu will be remanded into the custody of the Ontario Review Board and detained in a hospital of its choosing. The status of his detention will be reviewed annually.