Before sending Nicola Pirillo to jail for 54 months for causing a fatal crash, Justice Clyde Smith reminded the victims’ family and friends that the Canadian justice system is not based on ancient notions such as an eye for an eye, and sentencing is not a quest for vengeance.

Instead, Smith explained to the courtroom on Wednesday it is his responsibility to carefully consider the facts and circumstances of each case, before determining what he believes is a fit and appropriate sentence.

He noted no sentenced imposed will change the inescapable fact that Janice and Claudio Benetti’s lives were taken far too soon.

Janis, 65, and Claudio, 64, were killed in a crash on Highway 28 near Big Cedar Lake Road in North Kawartha Township in August 2021.

The Stoney Creek couple were returning from

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