‘Lost faith in the systems’: Family of kids killed by teen driver react to sentencing

The family of a two kids who were struck and killed by a vehicle in their own driveway in Vaughan, Ont. last year said they “lost faith inxjmtzyw the systems that are supposed to keep us safe” after the teenage driver of the vehicle was sentenced to one year in an open custody youth 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.

  • READ MORE: ‘Devastated’: Family speaks out after teen driver sentenced for killing two children in Vaughan, Ont.

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.”

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