‘I’m not asking for forgiveness’: Marco Muzzo, drunk driver who killed 4, granted full parole
Posted February 9, 2021 7:51 am.
Last Updated February 9, 2021 9:10 pm.
A Toronto-area drunk driver who killed three children and their grandfather has been granted full parole, the Parole Board of Canada ruled on Tuesday.
Marco Muzzo was granted day parole last April, nearly five years after the crash that sparked national grief.
Among Muzzo’s conditions presented to him by the board via videoconference on Tuesday, they ruled he must avoid the victims, is forbidden from consuming alcohol, and cannot enter Brampton or the Regional Municipality of York.
Additionally, Muzzo must not enter establishments where the primary form of sale is alcohol, including gentlemen’s clubs. He must also participate and follow a treatment plan.
Before the decision was delivered, Muzzo said that while he can’t change the past, he hopes to help prevent others from doing what he did.
“I’m not asking for forgiveness and nor do I ever expect it,” he told the board.
“I know my reintegration has been slow and will continue to be slow and steady.”
THIS JUST IN: Marco Muzzo has been granted full parole with a number of conditions, including avoiding the victims, not consuming alcohol, not entering Brampton or the Regional Municipality of York, and continuing to get treatment.
I will have all the details coming up @680NEWS
— Momin Qureshi (@MominYQureshi) February 9, 2021
The board noted at the time that Muzzo appeared to have become more self-aware and was unlikely to re-offend.
But the panel denied him full parole, finding that elements of his plan for self-management were “relatively simplistic” and relied too much on his circumstances.
RELATED: Marco Muzzo denied full parole; day parole continues with conditions
Muzzo was sentenced to 10 years behind bars after pleading guilty in 2016 to four counts of impaired driving causing death and two of impaired driving causing bodily harm.
Nine-year-old Daniel Neville-Lake, his five-year-old brother Harrison, their two-year-old sister Milly and the children’s 65-year-old grandfather, Gary Neville, were killed in the September 2015 crash.
The children’s grandmother and great-grandmother were also seriously injured in the collision in Vaughan, Ont.
At Tuesday’s hearing, the children’s parents urged the board to not grant Muzzo parole, saying he has not truly taken responsibility or shown remorse for his actions.
They also asked that, should Muzzo be released on full parole, he does so in another province to spare them the stress of potentially crossing paths with him.
“He scares me. The thought of him being out on the street frightens me greatly. I get panicked and anxious thinking about him,” Jennifer Neville-Lake told the board.
“There is absolutely nothing that can be done to spin the death of all of my children and my father into something good. The idea that three innocent kids have to pay the price for him to learn a common-sense lesson about decency, responsibility, and road safety is repugnant.”
“No matter the outcome, nothing changes for me,” she said in a Facebook post last week.
With files from Paola Loriggio of The Canadian Press
