MANDEL: 'Most horrific' example of intimate partner violence nets man life for setting ex-wife on fire
'I have no doubt the two children who watched their mother burn will have this picture with them for the rest of their lives'
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Norbert Budai apologized for killing his ex-wife by dousing her with gasoline and setting her on fire.
But the heinous killer didn’t sound very remorseful at all. It doesn’t really matter though — the sentence is the same, either way. Found guilty of first-degree murder in the horrific killing of Henrietta Viski, Budai, 41, was handed an automatic life sentence, with no eligibility of parole for 25 years.
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MANDEL: 'Most horrific' example of intimate partner violence nets man life for setting ex-wife on fire Back to video
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“This is yet another instance of intimate partner violence committed in our community,” Superior Court Justice Jane Kelly said.
Crown attorney Matthew Shumka called it a “most horrific” example with a “near unthinkable” level of sadistic violence. “To be frank, Your Honour, I struggle to think of a worse way a person could die.”
The planned and deliberate murder was all about domination and control — and Budai’s rage when it was slipping away.
In 2019, the family came to Canada from Hungary as refugee claimants but after 19 years together, Viski wanted out of their common-law marriage.
“The breakup of the relationship was tumultuous,” the judge said.
In 2021, his refusal to let her go led to his convictions on three counts of uttering threats and two of failing to comply with his release order. “Mr. Budai’s conduct showed that he wholly disregarded the court orders to protect Ms. Viski. He was on probation at the time he committed this murder.”
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Like so many before him, the rejected partner couldn’t take no for an answer. While Viski was “wholly entitled” to move on to a new relationship, the judge said Budai was consumed by jealousy and viewed her dyeing her hair bright red as a taunting symbol of her “infidelity.”
“He wanted to remove her hair. That is the reason he says he lit her on fire,” she said. “He broke down the door, doused her with gasoline and lit her on fire. Mr. Budai’s jealousy was obvious.
“Even when Ms. Viski was on fire, he wrestled with her, managing to remove a clump of her red hair which was left on the ground and photographed by the Toronto Police Service, a grim reminder of the reason for Mr. Budai committing a crime of stark horror.”
She died the next day.
Viski, 37, became another statistic: according to a report released last month, police-reported intimate partner violence has increased 13% between 2018 and 2023, with victims overwhelmingly women. “This is the worst possible example of it that I can contemplate,” the prosecutor said.
The attack, captured on surveillance video, is “horrifying,” Kelly agreed. “So much so that Mr. Budai, the man who poured gasoline on Ms. Viski, lit her on fire, and watched her burn did not wish to look at it.”
Their son and daughter, who were forced to witness the gruesome killing, didn’t have a choice.
“I have no doubt the two children who watched their mother burn will have this picture with them for the rest of their lives as well and yet they played no role in her death,” the judge said.
“It does not take much imagination to understand the pain and disbelief they must feel when they consider how their father murdered Ms. Viski resulting in the loss of their mother.”
Budai’s lawyer Loui Dallas said the killer suffered physical and psychological abuse throughout his life and was persecuted because of his Roma heritage. He blamed the murder on Budai’s lack of therapy and his abuse of drugs and alcohol to cope.
Even now, though, he refuses to admit this was first-degree murder. “It was an unplanned series of events,” Budai told the court.
But on June 16, 2022, the enraged ex-husband went to the Scarborough townhome on Chester Le Blvd. that Viski shared with their children and threatened to light her on fire.
The next day, he did just that.
And within a few minutes of that selfish act, three children lost their mother to murder and their father to a prison cell for at least 25 years.
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