TORONTO -- Protesters gathered outside the Brampton, Ont. courthouse on Thursday morning as a two-day bail hearing began for a 20-year-old man charged in connection with a crash that left a woman and her three young daughters dead two months ago.
“The Ciasullo family deserves justice so we are here to show them that the community is absolutely standing behind them and backing them 100 per cent,” Jillian McLeod with the group Time for Change – Justice for Families said.
“We absolutely are here to show that we demand bail be denied.”
Karolina Ciasullo, 37, and her three daughters – Klara, 6, Lilianna, 3, and Mila, 1 – died after their Volkswagen was struck by a blue Infiniti G35 near Torbram Road and Countryside Drive on the afternoon of June 18.
Police have previously said the Infiniti was travelling through the intersection at a high rate of speed when the crash took place.
The driver of the Infiniti – identified by officers as Caledon resident Brady Robertson – was transported from the scene to hospital with serious injuries following the crash. He was taken into custody less than a week later and now faces four counts of dangerous driving causing death.
On Aug. 13, a two-day bail hearing for Robertson was scheduled for the following week.
As the proceedings got underway at 9:30 a.m. Thursday morning, a group of demonstrators gathered outside the courthouse, located near Hurontario Street and Steeles Avenue West.
The group held signs with photographs of the Ciasullo family reading “time for change,” “not one more” and “stricter laws.”
Time for Change – Justice for Change also held a demonstration outside of Queen’s Park last weekend. About 200 people attended the rally, which called for a change to current laws on sentences and parole eligibility for serious driving convictions.
The group said the idea for the rally came after an online petition was made and garnered more than 80,000 signatures.
Robertson’s bail hearing will continue on Friday morning. The evidence presented during the proceedings is under a publication ban.
