Family barred from Marco Muzzo parole hearing due to coronavirus

By News staff

The parole hearing for convicted drunk driver Marco Muzzo, who killed three children and their grandfather in a car crash back in 2015, will be held without the victims’ family due to COVID-19 restrictions.

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, all from Brampton, died after the van they were in was T-boned by an SUV in Vaughan on Sept. 27, 2015. The children’s grandmother and great-grandmother were also seriously injured.

Muzzo had pleaded guilty to four counts of impaired driving causing death and two counts of impaired driving causing bodily harm and was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2016. He was denied day and full parole at his first hearing in 2018.

His next hearing is scheduled to be held on April 28 at Beaver Creek Institution in Gravenhurst, where he is being held as a minimum security offender.

In a statement, the Parole Board of Canada said no one will be allowed to attend the parole hearing, including Jennifer Neville-Lake, the mother of the children killed. Neville-Lake’s father was also killed in the crash.

“In an effort to protect the health and safety of the public, Parole Board of Canada (PBC) board members, staff, and offenders in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the PBC has cancelled all observer attendance at its hearings until further notice. This is consistent with the decision of the Correctional Service of Canada, which has also suspended all visitors from attending its institutions,” the statement read.

Neville-Lake was expected to read her victim impact statement at the parole hearing; however, she won’t be able to do via video conferencing either.

The Parole Board said “information discussed at PBC hearings is confidential in nature and requires a secure video conference connection to ensure the protection of sensitive information.”

“As a result, victims/observers would need to attend a government facility in order to participate in hearings by way of video conference, which is not possible given the current restrictions in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

In a tweet on April 10, Neville-Lake said she requested to attend the hearing by teleconference but did not receive a response.

“Asked about a secure telephone line under supervision at a secured location so we could at least join by teleconference. No response,” the tweet said.

“This is the age of working remotely and where secure teleconferencing and videoconferencing is the norm for a majority of the world … except when it includes victims. Why is that??,” she said in another tweet on April 8.

The Parole Board of Canada told CityNews that victim impact statements can be submitted in writing or via an audio/video recording. It also said that victims can request an audio recording of the hearing.

Since reporters will also be barred from attending the hearing, the Parole Board will provide its written decision to the media via email.

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