CJ Martin sits on a bench at a park in Mississauga, his head buried in his hands, and sobs.
It’s the same park where his son Riley Driver-Martin grew up playing. It is made up of memories Martin now holds dear.
“We spent a lot of time here .. he used to say, ‘Dad, come slide down the slide with me,’ and obviously, being six-foot-three, my feet were already touching the ground so I would pretend to go up and down the slide, across the monkey bars, I would hold him as he would go one by one,” remembered Martin.
Driver-Martin was 14 when he was killed on Dec. 7, 2018.
“I come more here than to where he is actually buried. I feel there is more of a sensibility here … I just sit on the concrete and cry because they took my boy,” said Martin.
His son’s body was found by a passerby in a pathway to the park, just two blocks from home.
“Everybody keeps asking me if I’m OK. No, I’m not OK. It’s hard. I still get condolences until this day about my child — my child would have been turning 16,” said Martin.
Driver-Martin’s birthday is a milestone the family will spend in court in February when the two men, who are brothers, charged in connection with his murder face trial.
“How fair is that,” remarked Driver-Martin’s grandmother, Ainsley Driver.
Riley was her first grandchild. She said she remembered the joy he brought her.
“It is a nightmare nobody should have to go through. He was our everything. He was what made our house happy,” she said.
Their house is usually decked for the holidays by now, but the Christmas tree now sits in a box in the corner of the living room. There are just a few holiday mementos spread around.
“Last year we had the house fully decorated. This year it’s even hard to think about Christmas,” said Driver.
Riley’s aunt explained the sadness is mixed with anger.
“Christmas is supposed to be a magical time and now the magic is gone and it’s just pain and suffering,” said Jamie-Lee Driver.
“This year it’s even hard to think about Christmas.”
Her sister, Driver-Martin’s mother, is still too heartbroken to speak about his death. Riley’s younger brother is also devastated and began to cry as the family sat together and reflected on his life.
To mark a year since Driver-Martin’s death, a memorial is planned. Community members will retrace the steps he might have taken before his murder. They will gather to lay flowers and light candles in the pathway where Martin walks often.
“He always used to say, ‘Dad, I love you. Trust me, I know what I’m doing,” recalled Martin.
But what he was doing the night he met the two men, who stand charged in connection with his murder, just steps from his home and the park where he used to play, remains a mystery.