Toronto woman avoids jail time after being convicted of dangerous driving causing death

A Toronto woman who was found guilty of dangerous driving resulting in the death of mother of two Carolyn Kelley and of dangerous driving resulting in serious bodily harm to another man, has been handed a conditional sentence of two years less a day, to be served in the community.

Justice Jonathan Bliss of the Ontario Court of Justice sentenced Carlene Nunes on Tuesday, ordering the 46-year-old to spend the first nine months of her two-year sentence living under house arrest. She must wear an ankle bracelet for the duration of her sentence and she was given a five-year driving prohibition.

The family of Kelley, who has been waiting for five years for justice, told Global News they are upset.

On Nov. 9, 2018, Carolyn Kelley, a lab technologist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, was waiting for a bus at the corner of Ellesmere and Birchmount roads heading to work. The 59-year-old was struck by the SUV being driven by Nunes. Kelley died from her injuries. Another pedestrian named Jonathan Bloom, who was also standing at the bus stop, was also seriously injured.

At trial, court heard that Nunes was driving at a high rate of speed, next to another vehicle as she approached the intersection. Unable to get ahead of the vehicle on her left, a car and two buses ahead of her in the curb lane, Nunes swerved to the right to avoid a collision.

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Evidence presented at trial found Nunes was travelling 96 km/h just one second before the collision with the two pedestrians who were standing at the bus stop. After striking them, her vehicle continued through a parking lot, onto a grassy boulevard where she struck a light post and came to a rest.

The judge found that Nunes, who had time to brake, decided to speed up as she approached the intersection, resulting in tragic consequences. “This was not an unforeseen momentary circumstance. It was her doing, the evasive action she took to save herself,” Bliss said while delivering his guilty verdict in May.

A cousin of Kelley’s told Global News that the sentence given to Nunes is “laughable.”

“The general feeling is anger and disbelief,” she wrote. “Carolyn’s family went thru (sic) just about five years of waiting for closure only to be greatly disappointed.”

Crown Prosecutors had suggested a sentence of three years in prison and a five-year driving prohibition would be appropriate.