Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
A judge has found 21-year-old Sabastian Prosa guilty on all 12 charges he faced in connection with a collision on Highway 427 in 2012 that killed a father and his teenaged daughter.
The Caledon man was found guilty of two counts of impaired driving causing death, two counts of criminal negligence causing death and two counts of operating a vehicle impaired causing death, along with six other offences.
In the early hours of Aug. 5, 2012, 49-year-old Jayantha Wijeratne, his wife Antonette and their 16-year-old daughter Eleesha were in a minivan on Highway 427 near the ramp to the QEW when they were struck by an SUV travelling in the wrong direction driven by Prosa.
Jayantha and Eleesha were pronounced dead at the scene while Antonette suffered serious injuries in the collision.
Antonette was seen weeping in court as the verdict was announced.
“He made the right decision,” Antonette told reporters outside the court when asked about Justice Glenn Hainey’s verdict.
“Even though my husband and my daughter are not coming back, at least this nightmare is over.”
Antonette’s son, Brian Wijeratne, told reporters his sister Eleesha was his “other half,” and hoped attention paid to the case might convince drivers under the age of 21 to heed the law and refrain from consuming any alcohol while driving.
“I hope young people seeing this can get that message. Why would you put another family or your own through that.”
At one point during the trial, Prosa said he had reason to believe a club drug was dropped in his drink before he was involved in the collision. Prosa’s blood sample was compromised before it could be tested for any club drug.
In an interview Friday afternoon, Mothers Against Drunk Driving victim services director Carolyn Swinson said that if Prosa was found not guilty, “it would have set a terrible precedent” where accused in impaired cases could claim they were incapacitated by some other noxious substance they did not willingly or knowingly ingest.
