Karolina Ciasullo and her daughters 6-year-old Klara, 3-year-old Lilianna and 1-year-old Mila were killed in a crash in June, 2018.
The driver who struck and killed a Caledon woman and her three young daughters in Brampton has had his appeals denied.
Karolina, Klara, Lilianna and Mila Ciasullo were all killed in a crash on June 18, 2020, when then-21-year-old Brady Robertson crashed into the family’s vehicle.
A teacher at Isaac Jogues Catholic Elementary School in Brampton, the death of Karolina and her daughters set off a wave of grief in the community and calls for stricter dangerous driving penalties.
Robertson pleaded guilty to four counts of dangerous driving causing death, but challenged four counts of operation while impaired by drugs causing death.
He was found guilty and sentenced to 17 years in prison minus time served for the that killed 37-year-old Karolina and her daughters 6-year-old Klara, 3-year-old Lilianna and 1-year-old Mila – a sentence the repeated impaired driver sought to appeal.
During the trial, the court heard Robertson had the illegal sedative flubromazolam and 40 ng/ml of THC in his blood less than an hour after the crash, which is eight times higher than the legal limit of no more than 5 ng/ml two hours after driving.
Robertson’s lawyers argued that the trial judge erred in upholding the constitutionality of the legal limit for THC, but those appeals were tossed earlier this week.
“The 5 ng/mL THC limit is constitutional,” Chief Justice Michael Tulloch wrote in his decision.
He said the trial judge “carefully weighed the exceptionally aggravating features of this case,” including Robertson’s “profound disregard for public safety, and the pattern of dangerous driving reflected in two separate high-risk police pursuits.”
“While the judge also considered the appellant’s mitigating circumstances, she reasonably concluded that these factors did not outweigh the gravity of the offences,” Tulloch wrote in his decision, adding that “the sentence was justified and consistent with the governing principles of sentencing.”
Robertson had received 15 driving infractions in the two and a half years before the fatal crash, including a collision just two days earlier when he failed to stop at an intersection and crashed into a barrier.
In 2023, the City of Brampton unveiled the Karolina, Klara, Lilianna and Mila Ciasullo Memorial Playground located in Brampton’s Sesquicentennial Park.
The playground and activity hub at 11333 Bramalea Rd. includes an outdoor fitness area, splash pad, a shaded family gathering area, and a fully inclusive playground, with Mayor Patrick Brown calling the dedication “a symbol of our support and remembrance to ensure the Ciasullo memory lives on in our community.”
The city pledged to name the new playground after the Ciasullo family in a council resolution passed in 2021 and followed a memorial bench and tree planting at Brampton’s Professor’s Lake in the family’s honour.
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