The family of two children who were struck and killed by a vehicle in their own driveway in Vaughan, Ont. Last year they said they “lost faith in the systems that are supposed to keep us safe” after the teenage driver of the vehicle was sentenced to one year in an open youth custody facility.
“Just a few seconds transformed this day, shattered our family, and changed our entire existence,” the family’s mother Binta Chaudhari told media in an emotional speech.
The teenage driver was 16 at the time and cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. On Monday, he was sentenced to one year in an open custody youth facility, with an additional six months of supervision in the community afterwards and a six- year driving prohibition.
Following the sentencing, the family read from prepared statements, indicating that the family “would not experience any sense of justice from the court’s decision today,” Binta explained.
“I have to accept we were completely helpless and vulnerable to the recklessness of a stranger,” the father Ketan Chaudhari said. “I have to accept the devastation on my family. And I have to accept the laws that protect the guilty.”
Watch the full statement in the video above.