The parents of a 14-year-old B.C. boy who died after being given a large quantity of drugs have rejected an apology from the young man who gave them to him.
Carson Crimeni died on Aug. 7, 2019 near a Langley skate park. On the day of his death, other youth watched, filmed and laughed as his condition visibly worsened.
The court has since heard that Carson had the equivalent of 10 adult doses of MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy, in his system when he died.
A suspect, who cannot be identified because he was a minor at the time of the incident, has since pleaded guilty to manslaughter. On Friday, he apologized to the family in court as a sentencing hearing in the case drew to its conclusion.
“I need to apologize, I take full responsibility. I am deeply ashamed, I am haunted by his death … I wholeheartedly apologize to the Crimeni family, my family and the community but most of all I apologize to Carson,” he told the court. “I am sorry.”
Outside the New Westminster Law Courts, Carson’s mother Chantell Griffiths rejected the apology.
“I feel for the kid, I do, but I just still don’t forgive him, I don’t, not at this point. I just feel there is no excuse for what happened to my son,” she said.
“I think that like its pretty terrible for him to even ask for a lesser sentence. If he was tried as adult he would be gone for a long time.”
Carson’s father Aron Crimeni said he didn’t accept the apology either.
“In all honestly it all seemed very insincere,” he said. “It just seems like convenient timing that after all this time he stands before a judge that’s about to sentence him … that now an apology of such comes.”
On Thursday, the court heard emotional victim impact statements, including his father’s tearful recollection of waiting with his son in hospital as Carson died.
“I will never be the same,” Aron said. “I’m still really messed up over all of it. I don’t think anything can really make this better, because he’s gone.”
“I hear kids screaming when they’re not screaming because I am just terrified something is happening,” she added.
The accused has been described in court as a sophisticated drug dealer.
The Crown and defence are both asking for a three-year sentence in the case. Prosecutors want two years of that sentence behind bars with a year probation, while defence is asking for 12-18 months in jail.
Aron said neither sentence will be enough to bring Carson back, but he is at least glad the court process is almost over.
“It’s just been hard to go through. I mean we’re at the end now,” he said. “I don’t believe they actually give him what he deserves for this action. I mean he took my son’s life. I don’t believe it was an accident. We’re just hoping for something as close to justice as possible at this point.”
Griffiths said she hopes other parents take the lesson from her son’s death that open communication with their children is the most important thing they can have.
She said kids need to be empowered to speak up if they see or hear something happening that is wrong.
“I tell my kids all the time one of my biggest fears is that something bad will happen and they will be fearful to call me or something like that,” she said. “If one of my kids were there … I know they would have phoned me.”
The judge in the case has reserved her sentence for a future date.
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