No justice in sentence for teen driver who killed two kids

"We have lost faith in the systems that are supposed to keep us safe," mother Binta Patel told reporters

Torontosun.com
April 5, 2022
Michele Mandel

It seems pitiful little punishment.

A speeding teenage driver who ran down two children in their Vaughan driveway after he lost control of his father’s Mercedes has been sentenced to one year in an open custody residence, six-months community supervision and a six-year driving ban under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

But the 17-year-old A-student, identified only as C.Z., could have faced no custody at all under the YCJA. As Justice David Rose reminded those who filled the Newmarket court,
“Youths are treated differently in law.”

C.Z. pleaded guilty in December to two counts of dangerous driving causing death and one of dangerous driving causing bodily harm in the horrific May 16, 2021 crash that killed Anaya Chaudhari, 10, and her brother Jax, 4, and seriously injured neighbour, John Chiarelli.

The children’s heartbroken mother expected their family would experience no sense of justice from Monday’s sentencing decision.

“Not only because the Youth Criminal Justice Act protects and limits the length and type of punishment that is possible, but also because we have lost faith in the systems that are supposed to keep us safe,” Binta Patel told reporters.

“We don’t know if any punishment would have been enough. All we know is that this doesn’t change anything for our family.”

On that warm spring afternoon, they’d just returned home from a walk to the park with their new puppy, Coco. Jax watched Chiarelli fix a bicycle chain for Anaya -- who would turn 11 in two days -- while sister Kaya, 8, played with the dog.

“We were at ease and we felt safe and unexpecting of the horror that was about to unfold in front of our eyes,” said Patel, wearing a T-shirt with a photo of her two dead children and the caption: Slow Down.

“We heard a speeding car and immediately saw it flying into our two children and neighbour,” she wept. “Just a few seconds transformed this day, shattered our family and changed our entire existence.”

C.Z. , 16 at the time, had been speeding to his girlfriend’s house at an estimated 102 km/h in a 40 km/h zone, when he lost control at a bend in the road.

He’d received his beginner’s permit only a few months before, which makes you wonder why his parents thought it a good idea for him to drive such a powerful vehicle on his own. More disturbing, he’d been charged 15 months earlier for driving without a licence, but it was withdrawn after C.Z. wrote a letter acknowledging the dangers : “If you take someone’s life in a traffic accident you can’t solve that problem, it happened and now you will have to live with that for the rest of your life.”

If only he’d taken his own advice.

Now a devastated father has been told he has no choice but to accept that a youth is held to a different standard under the law. “I have to accept the devastation on my family and I have to accept the laws that protect the guilty,” Ketan Chaudhari said, his voice angry and broken.

But he doesn’t have to accept how prevalent reckless driving has become.

“We would like to send a message to all young drivers out there: Cars are not toys. Cars can be deadly weapons. Speed limits and laws are there to be followed. And not being able to abide by them is a sign you are not ready to drive.

“Do you understand how quickly everything can go wrong in just a few seconds?” Chaudhari asked. “My children lost their lives because of a few moments of selfish stupidity.”

The judge described Anaya as a vivacious young girl with dreams of going to Harvard; Jax was energetic and fearless. Their tragic deaths, he said, required a custodial sentence rather than probation alone as C.Z’s lawyer had requested.

But Rose also praised the studious young driver and found “his remorse is both genuine and deep.”

“He has accomplished much in his short time, and has set himself on a path for continued success as an adult,” he said.

“I cannot help but to think that if Jax and Anaya were not killed that day, they would have had similar lives when each of them turned 17. It is a bitter irony.”

Bitter and enraging.