Prosecutors are seeking a total of 20 years in prison for the man convicted in a 2020 Brampton crash that killed a Caledon schoolteacher and her three young daughters.
In sentencing submissions on Monday, Crown prosecutor Patrick Quilty told Ontario court Judge Sandra Caponecchia that driver Brady Robertson, 21, deserves a lengthy prison term for causing the June 18, 2020, crash that killed Karolina Ciasullo, 37, and her three daughters, six -year-old Klara, three-year-old Lilianna and one-year-old Mila.
Quilty noted that the maximum sentence for dangerous driving causing death has been raised from 14 years to life in prison. “By increasing the maximum sentences, your honor, Parliament has signaled that it wanted driving offenses to be punished more harshly,” he said, calling on the judge to hand Robertson a 23-year sentence, minus 34 months’ credit for time already served in custody.
“This is one of the worst cases of dangerous driving,” Quilty said, adding that Roberston did not have a valid license, had a long record of driving offenses and had been involved in another dangerous driving incident two days before he slammed into Ciasullo’s SUV while attempting to evade police near Torbram Road and Countryside Drive in Brampton.
Quilty also argued that Robertson should be subjected to a lifetime driving ban, and should have no chance of parole until he’s served either 10 years, or half of his sentence, whichever is less.
Nobody is going to be deterred, Quilty said, “if they realize that even if they kill four people, they may only have to serve five or six years, at most, before they’re released on parole.”
Robertson’s defense lawyer, Craig Bottomley, argued instead for a sentence of seven years’ custody before credit for time served, saying the Crown’s submission is excessive and not supported by precedent.
“I’m asking the courts to exercise restraint,” Bottomley said, noting his client’s age, tough upbringing and guilty plea as mitigating factors.
In addressing the court, Robertson apologized to the family, saying the lives he took “deeply haunt” him.
“My selfish, reckless action has left a trail of destruction,” he told the court. “It was my defiance of the law that created this entire situation.”
At his trial last year, Robertson pleaded guilty to four counts of dangerous driving causing death. He separately pleaded not guilty to four counts of impaired driving causing death, arguing that although he tested well over the legal limit for THC, he was not impaired at the time.
His lawyers argued that the legal limit of five nanograms of THC per millilitre of blood is unconstitutional because it runs the risk of not only catching people engaging in risky behavior but also those “morally innocent” people who use cannabis for medical reasons, and who use responsibly but still have residual THC in their blood.
At trial, Caponecchia provisionally convicted Robertson on the impaired driving charges, pending the outcome of his constitutional challenge.
The judge rejected that challenge earlier this month, finding the legal limit complies with Robertson’s charter rights.
Although the THC limit may impact some frequent and chronic users of cannabis, “it does so in a way that does not violate the principles of fundamental justice because, on balance, the impact is neither arbitrary nor overbroad,” she wrote.
On Monday, Quilty argued that the question of whether or not Robertson was actually impaired by THC is not relevant to the sentence. “The sentencing range for having an excess blood drug concentration is the same as the sentencing range for impaired driving,” he said.
He compared the case to that of Marco Muzzo, a drunk driver who was sentenced to 10 years in a crash that also killed an adult and three children. If Muzzo had committed the offenses under current legislation, his sentence would’ve been much longer, Quilty said.
“Mr. Robertson’s conduct was substantially more aggravating,” he added.
Caponecchia has also found Robertson guilty of dangerous driving over an incident two days before the deadly crash, finding he was the driver of the same blue Infiniti on June 16, 2020, when witnesses observed the car mount the curb in front of a coffee shop, at the corner of Kennedy Road and Dougall Avenue in Caledon, where the car crashed into a planter box and two garbage bins.
Caponecchia is set to deliver the sentence on April 16.
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