Drunk driver Marco Muzzo parole decision details ‘devastating impact’ on victims

In its full decision, the Parole Board of Canada described the “devastating impact” of drunk driver Marco Muzzo‘s offences on the four victims.

“It is clear from the victim statements that any contact with you, unintended or otherwise, would significantly enhance the trauma already inflicted on them by your criminal behaviour,” noted the decision by board members.

Muzzo, who killed three children and their grandfather in a September 2015 crash in Vaughan, was granted full parole on Feb. 9.

The board imposed a number of “special conditions,” now explained in its full decision.

“You told the Board that you considered your alcohol use prior to the crash under control and manageable. This suggests that you still have difficulty recognizing that your attitudes and behaviours involving alcohol were problematic,” noted the decision.

“Therefore, the Board imposed two alcohol related conditions, that Muzzo not consume, purchase or possess alcohol, and that he not enter establishments where the primary source of income is derived from the sale or consumption of alcohol, including gentlemen’s clubs.”

In addition to avoiding any contact with the family of the victims, Muzzo is not to enter either the City of Brampton or the Regional Municipality of York.

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“Your insistence on returning to live in the community where the victims are memorialised and the surviving victims regularly frequent, is concerning,” noted the board, later adding “while the Board recognizes that, in time, it may be desirable for you to return to your home community, any return to the area at this time is premature, and would have a significant negative impact on the victims.”

In 2016, Muzzo was sentenced to 10 years behind bars after pleading guilty to four counts of impaired driving causing death and two counts 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 Vaughan crash.

The children’s grandmother and great-grandmother were also badly injured.

A toxicologist found that Muzzo was about three times over the legal limit of alcohol consumption while behind the wheel, as he drove home from Toronto Pearson International Airport upon arriving back from his bachelor party in Miami.

The decision to grant Muzzo, now 34 years old, full parole was delivered in a remote hearing that also heard the victims’ grieving relatives describe the ongoing trauma and grief.

Muzzo spoke at the hearing following victim impact statements by the parents of the three children, and others.

“My heart bleeds every day,” Muzzo said. “Knowing my actions killed their three beautiful children Daniel, Harry and Milly and a loving and probably awesome grandfather Gary … I’m not asking for forgiveness and nor do I ever expect it.”

In a statement released after the decision was delivered, Jennifer Neville-Lake wrote, “I wish my kids got a chance to come home … I worry how long of a reprieve until he appeals that decision because I know he will.  It is just a matter of when.”

Muzzo has the right to appeal any part of the parole board’s decision within three months of it being made.

In coming to its decision, the board noted Muzzo has been able to “articulate the impact that your offending has had on the victims; individually acknowledge each of the deceased victims; and state that you recognize the importance of not adding to the psychological trauma already felt by the victims.”

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