The 911 call is chilling. It’s the voice of a teenage girl telling an ambulance dispatcher that her mom, Henrietta Viski, is on fire and she needs help quickly.
The young woman tells the dispatcher that the 37-year-old is burning and says a man lit her mother on fire. “Is she awake?” the dispatcher asks. “Yes, she is awake. She’s on her feet. She’s breathing,” the caller says before explaining her mother has injuries all over her body.
The caller then asks for police to be sent to the townhouse on Chester Le Boulevard because, “The man who did it is still there”. When asked how her mother was burned, the caller responds, “I don’t know, I just came into my house and my mom was already on fire.”
During the 12-minute 911 call from June 17, 2022, played in court on the opening day of the first-degree murder trial for Norbert Budai, the couple’s daughter whose identity is covered by a publication ban tells the dispatcher the man who did it is there crying. “It’s my mother’s ex-husband. He set her on fire,” she explains to the dispatcher, describing him as a bald, big, tall man with lots of tattoos.
“He’s my dad, my mom’s ex-husband, and he, he did it because he’s f- crazy,” the teen says, her voice quivering.
Budai was arrested on scene at the townhouse complex where Viski, his estranged wife, lived with the couple’s three children.
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On Monday, at the opening day of his judge-alone trial in front of Superior Court Justice Jane Kelly, Budai tried to plead guilty to the lesser charge of second-degree murder, admitting he killed his wife that day. The Crown rejected Budai’s plea and will try to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Budai planned and deliberated Viski’s murder.
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In an agreed statement of facts read out in court, Budai admits he went to the Scarborough townhouse where Viski lived the day before and threatened to light her on fire in the presence of two of the couple’s three children. He then left the premises.
The following morning, at 6:53 a.m., video surveillance shown in court captured Budai returning to Viski’s residence where he made an attempt to enter the townhouse unit but was unsuccessful. At 1:45 p.m. that same day, he is seen pulling into the parking lot of the townhouse complex, before parking and walking to the victim’s front door. Three minutes later, he returns to the vehicle and can be seen retrieving a red plastic container or jerrycan. He is captured walking back to the front door of Viski’s unit with the jerry can containing gasoline.
Budai admits he physically forced the front door of the unit open and proceeded to douse Viski with gasoline. She left the unit and he followed her with the jerry can in hand, before holding a cigarette light to Viski and igniting her. The facts state while Viski was burning, there was a physical interaction between her and Budai. She struggled to the ground and he lay on top of her. He then got up and ran inside Viski’s home, his clothes having caught on fire.
Viski remained engulfed in flames for a period of time, lying on the ground, behind a neighbour who ran up and extinguished her with a hose. Twenty-eight seconds later, Budai, who was no longer on fire, emerged from the townhouse with a plastic bucket. He upended the bucket on Viski while the neighbour continued spraying her with a hose. The facts state Viski was ablaze for approximately 50 seconds.
The court also heard that the couple who came to Canada as refugees from Hungary in 2019 and who had been together in a common-law relationship for 19 years saw their relationship end in 2021.
On Dec. 8, 2021, Budai pleaded guilty to three counts of uttering death threats against Viski and two counts of failing to comply with a release order. The couple had a number of heated arguments over the fact that Budai wanted to return to Hungary. On one occasion, he said to Viski, “If you don’t leave, I will kill you.”
Prior to being sentenced, Budai stated, “I just want to get my family back.” He received a sentence of one day in jail after credit for 29 days served. He was also placed on probation for 18 months and was prohibited from having any contact or communication with Viski.
The Crown has rested its case. Defence will begin presenting evidence on Wednesday with Budai expected to take the witness stand.
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