A woman convicted of torture and mayhem for setting an exotic dancer on fire outside a Tarzana bikini bar was sentenced Thursday to life in prison.
Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Susan Speer imposed the term on Rianne Theriault-Odom, who was convicted Feb. 11 for attacking Roberta Busby outside Babes & Beer on Feb. 5, 2009.
Jurors acquitted the 28-year-old defendant of attempted murder.
Theriault-Odom argued with the victim outside the business at 18454 Oxnard St., where Busby worked as a dancer, and then doused the Simi Valley mother of two with an accelerant from a soda bottle she was holding and set her on fire, authorities said.
The victim ran back inside the bikini bar, and the club's employees and some patrons used curtains to douse the flames.
Busby -- who was 27 at the time of the attack that left her severely scarred -- has undergone more than two dozen skin graft operations.
Busby attended the sentencing hearing and tearfully asked that her assailant be sent to prison for life.
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"You're going to feel the same heartache that I felt when I couldn't ... play with my kids or even talk to my kids," she told Theriault-Odom. "... I guess I'll never know what was going through your mind that night but one day you will have to answer to God, and that's more justice than any prison can do to you.
"Your honor, all I ask is that, is that you hand down a punishment that will keep her away from society for the rest of her natural born life."
