Toronto-area residents are demanding justice for a family that was torn apart this summer. Protests have been held this week outside a bail hearing for a 20-year-old man charged in connection with a Brampton car crash that killed Karolina Ciasullo, 37, and her three daughters.
The tragedy took place on the afternoon of June 18, when Brady Robertson, also known occasionally as Brady Robinson, drove his Infiniti through an intersection of Countryside Drive and Torbram Road at high speeds and hit the family’s Volkswagen.
On Thursday, August 20, family, friends, and activists protested outside Brampton's courthouse on the first day of the two-day hearing. They believe Robertson should not be released from jail.
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Before the campaigning resumed on Friday, August 21, Narcity spoke to Anna Martin, Ciasullo's sister, who shared her thoughts on the bail hearing.
“In an instant all our lives were ripped apart. Not only did Brady Robertson take four lives, but the life of Michael Ciasullo, the father and husband of my sister who has now lost his whole world, his past, present and future are gone,” Martin told Narcity.
“I know nothing will bring [my family] back, but the laws we have in place now are just not enough."
Even the harshest penalty for reckless driving causing death is a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
However, Martin says that for every day Robertson waits for his ruling he gets a day-and-a-half off his sentence. This, plus good behaviour, theoretically means he could be out in an average of five years.
She fears that if he is released that soon, he could reoffend and cause more harm.
The growing number of protestors are demanding that bail be denied.
The bail hearing was scheduled on August 13 and began a week later at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday morning. It is set to resume on Friday afternoon and courts are expected to reach a verdict later today.
"We started the rally to bring attention to the public. To other families not to find out how broken our justice system really is at a time like this," Martin explained.
The large-scale support, which continued on Friday, has made her emotional and she is overwhelmed to see other families standing with her to demand justice.
Martin hopes to see changes to our justice system around incidents similar to the one she has experienced.
"We don’t want to live in a country where you can take four lives and you are free after only five years in jail, these changes are long overdue."
A petition launched on Change.org highlighting the tragedy as a reason that stricter dangerous driving laws and punishments are needed has reached almost 88,000 signatures since the crash.