Police identified the man who died as Jonathan Lawrence Graham, 29, of London. Graham died in hospital on Tuesday, hours after the early morning attack. Initially, the 32-year-old accused in the case was facing a charge of attempted murder, but this was upgraded to first degree murder. The incident comes the same week it was reported that a woman who was set on fire at a Toronto bus station in June had died in hospital. In this case, however, Nyima Dolma, 28, of Toronto did not know the 33-year-old man charged in her death. In London, police said they were called to Admiral Drive and Trafalgar Street at about 2:20 a.m. Tuesday to a report of a man on fire. By the time emergency crews arrived, the fire was out and the 29-year-old was rushed to hospital. Graham and the accused knew each other, police said. The two were at a house on Noel Avenue, not far from Admiral and Trafalgar, earlier in the evening when they got into a fight. They left the home separately, officers said.
At approximately 3am, a man was arrested in Royal Crescent, Clarke Road, for drink driving. “During the investigation, officers determined that the driver was also responsible for the serious assault on the man,” police said. At midday on Tuesday, police officers were still in the square where the burning man was found. It includes a Circle K grocery store, a pizza place and a barber shop. In the parking lot was a white Jeep Compass SUV, covered by a police tarp. A few steps away, two large burn marks were visible on the dry grass of a lawn. By 12:30 p.m., firefighters covered the burn marks and a tow truck picked up the SUV, which had a child seat in the back. An SUV is covered by a police tarp at the scene where a man was set on fire in east London in the early hours of Tuesday. (Kate Dubinski/CBC) Janine Robertson has lived in the area all her life and next door to the convenience store for six years. “It’s just one of the craziest things that happened there, one of the scariest things. Robberies, assaults, things happen there all the time,” Robertson said. “But now it’s the whole city. Things are crazy.” The 32-year-old has also been charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and impaired operation of a vehicle.