The woman who splashed gasoline on Robin Tomah then set her on fire has been granted full parole, despite Tomah's plea that she remain in jail.

Tomah travelled to Kitchener, Ont., to oppose Joanne Sylliboy's request to be released from the Grand Valley Institution for Women.

"She's out after only four years. I don't think she can be trusted," Tomah said.

Sylliboy and accomplice Vincent Bezanson attacked Tomah on Aug. 29, 2001, outside her apartment on the Millbrook reserve.

Sylliboy doused Tomah with gas. As Bezanson held Tomah to the ground, Sylliboy lit a match and threw it at her. Tomah managed to run to her bathroom and turn the shower on, but her attackers followed her and pulled her out.

Tomah's children witnessed the attack, which left their mother with third-degree burns to her chest and neck.

Sylliboy and Bezanson both pleaded guilty to attempted murder and were each sentenced to 12 years in prison.

When Sylliboy applied for parole, Tomah decided she wanted the parole board to see first-hand the scars left by the attack.

"I just would like to have the opportunity to be present in front of the parole hearing so they can just see that there's a human being behind these pictures and these victim impact statements," she said before Wednesday's hearing.

The hearing was modified according to First Nations' traditions. Tomah and Sylliboy sat in a circle with board members and an aboriginal elder. They grilled Sylliboy for three-and-a-half hours about why she thought she was ready for parole.

"You have scarred me and my family. I do not understand your motives. I see you as a walking contradiction," an emotional Tomah told Sylliboy.

"I would find it difficult to find peace knowing she was free," Tomah told the board.

Sylliboy described what she did as a crime of passion and said Tomah had nothing to fear. "I don't know how to get that across to Robin and her family."

The board agreed to Sylliboy's request for full parole, but with conditions. She must report to a parole officer for the next eight years and must not go to Nova Scotia as long as Tomah lives there. The restrictions will stay in place until her sentence runs out in the fall of 2013.

Although this chapter is over for Tomah, another legal battle is underway.

Tomah is suing Sylliboy in civil court for damages to cover the income lost during her recovery and the emotional suffering both to herself and her children who witnessed the attack.

Bezanson has not applied for parole.