Huge Donation - But Name Of Donator Irks Some

T

tay

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Two prominent GTA families, including that of convicted drunk driver Marco Muzzo, are donating $15 million to a new Vaughan hospital slated to open in 2020.

Mackenzie Health announced Thursday that the donation is the single largest in its history, and is a joint contribution by the Muzzo and De Gasperis families to build the new Mackenzie Vaughan Hospital. Both are prominent developers in the Greater Toronto Area.

"We are very grateful for this generosity, which will benefit the people of Vaughan and neighbouring communities for decades to come – providing exceptional health care for patients and families close to home," Ingrid Perry, president and CEO of the Mackenzie Health Foundation, said in a statement released Thursday. Both families have previously donated to Mackenzie Health, the statement went on.

To mark the gift, the west wing of the new hospital building will be named the De Gasperis-Muzzo Tower.

The Mackenzie Health Foundation is in the middle of a massive fundraising effort to raise some $250 million in community contributions that will go toward the $1.6 billion cost of the new hospital.

Marco Muzzo was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in a Vaughan crash that killed four members of the same family, including three young siblings.

The Sept. 27, 2015, collision killed three young Neville-Lake children: Daniel, 9, Harrison, 5, and Milly, 2. Their grandfather, Gary Neville, 65, also died in the crash.

The children's grandmother and her mother were injured.

In February 2016, Muzzo pleaded guilty to four counts of impaired driving causing death and two counts of impaired driving causing bodily harm.

The Neville-Lake family has since filed a $25 million lawsuit against Muzzo.

https://t.co/i4D6vFsTtg
 
Danbones

Danbones

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Sep 23, 2015
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Normally you would by your way into heaven with "indulgences", but the church doesn't sell them openly any more.

I guess they hope eventually the people will forget the drunk driving deaths and just remember the hospital wing name.
 
harrylee

harrylee

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Mar 22, 2019
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You have to feel so sorry for the Neville-Lake family.
Sad story all round...Muzzo has smeared his family name for life. It will always hang over them.
 
spaminator

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MANDEL: Marco Muzzo still has 'concerning' lack of empathy for victims, parole board says
Author of the article:Michele Mandel
Publishing date:Feb 25, 2021 • 14 hours ago • 3 minute read • comment bubble71 Comments
Marco Muzzo arrives at the courthouse for his sentencing hearing in Newmarket February 23, 2016.
Marco Muzzo arrives at the courthouse for his sentencing hearing in Newmarket February 23, 2016. PHOTO BY NATHAN DENETTE /THE CANADIAN PRESS
Article content
Killer drunk driver Marco Muzzo was granted full parole earlier this month despite his “concerning” lack of empathy and tendency to think more about himself than the people he has harmed.

Which begs the question — so why was he released?

NANNY TOUTED AS "HERO": Pushes two little boys to safety as she is struck by a car
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In reasons released Wednesday, the parole board explained that the man who killed three children and their grandfather has made significant progress but has “work to do, particularly in the areas of victim empathy and community acceptance.”

The panel was surprised when the heir to a billion-dollar fortune said he was hoping to return to working at the family business’s head office in Concord and living in the King City home he had shared with his fiancée.


“While you have taken steps toward fully understanding your offending and steps toward rehabilitation, your insistence on returning to live in the community where the victims are memorialized and the surviving victims regularly frequent, is concerning,” the board wrote.

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“It appeared to the Board that you were thinking more of your own interests than those of the people harmed by your offending. The Board is concerned that your focus on yourself gives rise to a risk of you deliberately or inadvertently moving within the relevant geographic region without fully considering or respecting victim concerns.”

Originally sentenced to 10 years in prison, Muzzo, 34, was granted full parole just five years and five months after he blew through a stop sign at 85 km/h and T-boned a family van, killing driver Gary Neville and his grandchildren Daniel, 9, Harry 5, and Milly Neville-Lake, 2.

Daniel, 9, Milly, 2, and Harry, 5, were killed along with their maternal grandfather by drunk driver Marco Muzzo.
Daniel, 9, Milly, 2, and Harry, 5, were killed along with their maternal grandfather by drunk driver Marco Muzzo.
Also severely injured in the crash were the children’s 64-year-old grandmother and 91-year-old great-grandmother.

Muzzo had just returned from his boozy Miami bachelor party and had downed three more cocktails on the private jet home. He was driving with more than double the legal level of alcohol in his system and “within the range of three times the legal limit,” the board noted.

The victim statements at the parole hearing described unrelenting grief, anger, fear, and frustration. “Their anguish is palpable. Your choices and actions have left them struggling psychologically, emotionally, physically and financially,” the panel wrote.


“They do not believe that you are truly remorseful, and they are afraid of your return to the community.”

The board was also troubled by Muzzo’s downplaying of his previous 10 speeding tickets, despite seven of them occurring on secondary roads such as the one where he slammed into the family van.

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“Either you were and are unaware of your driving habits, or you are minimizing the scope of the problem. This is similar to the lack of awareness and minimization you have previously displayed regarding your attitude and behaviours related to alcohol.”

Muzzo was denied parole at his first hearing in 2018 for his lack of insight into his past problems with binge drinking. Calling it a “wake-up call,” he began counselling and was then granted day parole in April 2020 and released to a halfway house.

The board was impressed with his continued self-financed counselling — weekly meetings with his addictions counsellor, bi-weekly sessions with his psychiatrist and monthly meetings with his social worker. He’s currently working three times a week in a satellite office of the family business.

In an unusual move, the board agreed to the Neville-Lakes’ request and imposed a condition that Muzzo not be allowed to visit, live or work in York Region or Brampton, where they reside.

“On balance, 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.”

It was a rare example of the justice system really listening to those who are so often ignored.

“Daniel is still dead. Harry is still dead. Milly is still dead. My dad is still dead. Nothing changes for me,” wrote the children’s mother Jennifer Neville-Lake on Twitter.

MORE ON THIS TOPIC

Marco Muzzo arrives at Newmarket Courthouse February 23, 2016.
MANDEL: Full parole for Marco Muzzo leaves mom 'numb and broken'
Marco Muzzo arrives at Newmarket Courthouse February 23, 2016.
Drunk driver Marco Muzzo, who killed four, gets full parole
Marco Muzzo.
MANDEL: Sadly, it's no surprise drunk driver Marco Muzzo got day parole

“I hope the decision in our case can be used to help all victims everywhere because to me, I see it as a victory for concern over the mental health of victims.”

And if it’s inconvenient for Muzzo, well, too bad. Isn’t it the least he can do for the family he has decimated?

mmandel@postmedia.com
torontosun.com

MANDEL: Marco Muzzo still has 'concerning' lack of empathy for victims, parole board says

Muzzo was granted full parole just five years and five months since he blew through a stop sign and T-boned a family van, killing four.
torontosun.com torontosun.com
 
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