Newmarket Era, January 7

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Muzzo will plead guilty —but not to all 18 charges

JUSTICE

Agreed statement of facts being hammered out BY JEREMY GRIMALDI

A

jgrimaldi@yrmg.com

STAFF PHOTO/MIKE BARRETT

Jennifer Neville-Lake and Edward Lake, parents of the three children who died in a September crash, along with Neville-Lake’s father, speak to media outside the Newmarket courthouse yesterday afternoon following a guilty plea by Marco Muzzo, who faces 18 charges, including impaired driving.

fter months of court hearings, recriminations, talk of plea deals and overflowing public anger, a window into an eventual outcome opened yesterday after it was announced Marco Muzzo will plead guilty. Although it remains unclear exactly what kind of sentence is being requested by the defence or Crown, Muzzo’s lawyer, Brian Greenspan, said by admitting guilt, his client is showing “remorse and contrition”. As such, Justice Michelle Fuerst will hear submissions as to what kind of sentence both sides are seeking — something neither the Crown nor the defence would say out loud yesterday — and then she will make a decision. Although Greenspan told gathered media that there will be no “plea deal or bargain” in the case, he also refused to disclose if there will be a financial settlement and notified the media his client will not be admitting guilt to all 18 charges.

He said while there will be no joint submission, there will be an agreed statement of facts that lawyers will hammer out. “Marco Muzzo has always accepted full responsibility for his actions and conduct,” Greenspan said outside the court. “He said that in the first meeting. It’s been a very long and difficult ordeal. He wants the chapter to be closed as soon as possible. This is an acceptance of responsibility by Marco Muzzo for what occurred.” He added that in all his 40 years practising law, this has been the most expeditious case he’s ever worked on The admission came as cold comfort to Jennifer Neville-Lake, who said while a guilty plea means Muzzo is standing up and “acknowledging guilt” she added that, at the end of the day, Muzzo is the “reason my children aren’t here, my dad, too”. She said that while it won’t stop the pain, she might eventually learn how to carry her “broken See page A8.

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Memories of dead children don’t stop impaired drivers

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BY LISA QUEEN

lqueen@yrmg.com

ith the faces of the three Neville-Lake children and their grieving parents all over the news since the youngsters and their grandfather were killed in an alleged drunk driving collision in Vaughan in September, MADD York Region president Kathy Mitchell had hoped this would be the holiday season motorists would not drive impaired. But RIDE statistics released this week from York Regional Police and the Ontario Provincial Police indicate many people continue to get behind the wheel after consuming alcohol

‘I wish I had an answer.’

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Is this issue a concern to you? Why or why not? Email tkibble@yrmg.com

or drugs. In fact, York Regional Police officers arrested more than 2-1/2 times the number of allegedly impaired drivers during the 2015 holiday campaign than they did during the 2013 campaign. Mitchell, whose 23-year-old niece, Ashley Fogal, of Sharon, was killed in a drunk driving collision Aug. 11, 2011 on her way to a concert at Casino Rama, is shocked and disappointed.

“I honestly don’t know what to say. You would honestly hope people would get the message after hearing that horrific story (about the Neville-Lake family), seeing (the children’s parents) Jennifer and Ed on the news and speaking about their family and what they’re going through,” she said. “It’s been constant. It’s been in the forefront since September and you would think that with that being continuously in the news and being out there, people would recognize it. But See page A8.

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COMMUNITY

Aurora teen chosen as ‘Everyone seems suspicious now’, victim says accessibility champion Winner ‘a very caring and compassionate young man’ BY TERESA LATCHFORD

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tlatchford@yrmg.com

n Aurora youth has been deemed an accessibility champion. Matthew Abas, a Grade 12 student at St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic High School, has been awarded the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act 10th anniversary accessibility champion award. Given by the Association of Municipal Managers, Clerks and Treasurers of Ontario, the one-time award recognizes individuals who demonstrate leadership in accessibility and disability issues. Patricia Dignard, an educational assistant with the York Catholic District School Board, who has worked with Abas for three years, helped to present the award at a recent town council meeting. “Matthew is a person who continues to help and assist members

with disabilities in the community,” she said. “He is a very caring and compassionate young man and I cannot think of a more deserving person.” She pointed out that Abas advocates not only for himself but his peers in school and the community by breaking down barriers to accessibility through his own experiences. “I just do what I normally do,” Abas said. “I advocate for myself and if someone else needs me to advocate for them, I will.” He was successful in having higher desks and chairs to accommodate his six-foot-six-inch height and having Wi-Fi available in the school portables to allow all students on an education assistive laptop access to programs they need to succeed in class. See page A10.

T

BY JEREMY GRIMALDI

jgrimaldi@yrmg.com

ammy (not her real name) doesn’t feel comfortable walking alone anymore. She flinches when a stranger looks at her cockeyed, when someone at school taps her on the shoulder from behind or when a stranger gets too close. These are the lasting effects on the Newmarket teenager who was sexually assaulted at the end of September. “Everyone seems suspicious now,” she told York Region Media Group.

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STAFF PHOTO/NICK IWANYSHYN

Have something to say about this issue? Email tkibble@yrmg.com

“Even if they just look at me the wrong way, I get freaked out.” The 16-year-old went public after Newmarket suffered a rash of sexual assaults — totalling nine since August last year — by three different men. The most recent was also the most violent, during which a man committed a vicious sexual assault on an 18-year-old girl at the GO Transit bus terminal near Crossland Gate. During this incident, the man approached the female on a quiet pathway that runs parallel to Davis

While a youth victim shared her experience with media, it is against the law to identify her even if she gives permission. Drive, before pulling her to the ground and committing undisclosed acts. Only days before, police accessed Upper Canada Mall surveillance video of another man who appears to follow a 59-year-old woman throughout the mall Dec. 22, even waiting for her outside particular stores as she shopped. When she finally leaves the mall, he grabs her butSee page A2.

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