'None of my children saw 10 years,' Jennifer Neville-Lake says
'Choices are actions that have consequences,' says mother of children killed in crash
Ten years is what a judge sentenced convicted drunk driver Marco Muzzo to, and an age Jennifer Neville-Lake's children never lived to see.
"That's what going through my head right now — the fact that [Muzzo's] sentence is 10 years and none of my children saw 10 years. None," she said outside the Newmarket, Ont., courthouse after Muzzo's sentencing.
- Marco Muzzo sentenced to 10 years in prison for Vaughan crash that killed 4
- Read the entire court decision
Neville-Lake spoke of the day in September that she had to decide to let go of Milly, 2, and Harry, 5, in hospital.
"I couldn't pick which baby to turn off the machines first," she said through tears.
She asked hospital staff to push their beds together and she and her husband, Ed Lake, crawled into bed to embrace them.
"We put our hands on top of theirs," she said, showing a photo of Milly and Harry holding hands before they died.
"Just like we were there with them when they were born, we were there with both of them when they died."
"They died hugged by us," she said.
"Family and friends sang to them Somewhere Over the Rainbow as we turned off the machines."
Neville-Lake held a green booklet filled with photos of her father and mother that culminated with images of the crash and the urns filled with the ashes of her children.
With credit for time served, Muzzo's sentence will amount to nine years and four months.
Superior Court Justice Michelle Fuerst also imposed a 12-year driving ban on Muzzo, which will begin the day he is released from prison.
Muzzo was driving an SUV that collided with a minivan carrying six members of the Neville-Lake family on Sept. 27 in Vaughan, just north of Toronto. Daniel, 9, Harrison, 5, Milly, 2, and their grandfather, 65-year-old Gary Neville, all died.
"This was a choice made by an individual," Neville-Lake said. "Choices are actions that have consequences."
"When you choose to drink and drive, you're hurting other families. You're killing someone else's babies — like mine were killed."