MANDEL: ‘Where is daddy?’ Christina Cristillo recalls horror of wrong-way GTA crash that killed her husband

See more Toronto Sun on Google — save as a Preferred Source

It was an ordinary summer night — Christina Cristillo was driving home from her in-laws with her husband Andrew asleep in the passenger seat and their “three little princesses” strapped into their child safety seats in the back.

And then, without warning, 18-year-old Jaiwin Kirubananthan — travelling the wrong way on Hwy. 48 in the Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville at 139 km/h in an 80 km/h zone — slammed head-on into their SUV.

At Kirubananthan’s sentencing hearing, sobs filled the Newmarket courtroom as Cristillo described the nightmare that began that horrific moment of impact on Aug. 3, 2025 — and which hasn’t abated since.

‘Our worlds flipped upside down’

“That is when our worlds flipped upside down,” she recalled. “I was unconscious and when I gained consciousness I could hear the girls screaming and yelling for Daddy and Mommy. I was panicking, I was stuck, I felt like I couldn’t breathe, I was disoriented, but the cries and screams kept getting louder.

“I’m screaming for Andrew because I can’t see anything. Andrew isn’t responding,” she continued. “I needed to get our babies out of this. I’m screaming for help. I’m stuck in this vehicle in a weird position. I can barely breathe until I get air from the window that I shattered with my foot and I kept screaming, ‘Help me, help me, help me.’

“When I see the girls and make eye contact with them, I remember I just kept repeating, ‘Mommy is trying to help us and get us all help.’ They keep asking ‘Where is Daddy? Is Daddy going to be ok?”

She was able to pass Leah, 7, and Chloe, 6, through the shattered window and waited for help, trying to calm four-year-old Ella, who was trapped with a gash on her forehead. “I just kept talking to her to keep her responsive, and all she could keep saying was, “Mommy, what happened? Where is Daddy?”

Andrew Cristillo, a 35-year-old construction supervisor, Taekwondo black belt, proud “girl dad” and loving, supportive husband to a wife battling stage 4 cancer, was gone.

His heartbroken father Danny Cristillo recalled weeping as he stood in the same clothing store where he’d bought a suit for his first-born’s wedding.

“A wedding suit and a funeral suit — nine years apart — both for the same son. That is what this accused has done to our family,” he said.

But nothing could compare to the agony that followed.

“The most painful moment of my life was standing at my son’s casket, staring at him, trying to force myself to accept the reality that this was our final goodbye,” he said. “Until you have closed the casket on your son, you have not felt the real depth of pain, sadness, and loneliness — of how much you can love someone.”

Kirubananthan hid in potato field for nine hours

Crown attorney Sean Doyle urged Justice Ann Marina Elias to sentence Kirubananthan to a stiff seven-and-a-half-year prison term for the dangerous driving causing death and three counts of dangerous operation and a consecutive year for fleeing the crash — the coward hid in a potato field for nine hours just 150 meters from where emergency responders were rushing to save the family he destroyed. There should also be a 15-year driving ban, he added.

At the time of the crash, Kirubananthan was already facing another dangerous driving charge for allegedly hitting an OPP vehicle carrying Premier Doug Ford on Hwy. 401. He returns to Oshawa court next month.

At first, defence lawyer Barry Fox argued the former UofT computer engineering student should be sentenced to two years less a day — to be served in the comfort of his home — for his “immature act. That’s all he did.”

He then revised his position to two years in jail less credit for pre-trial custody.

It’s no wonder the Cristillo family launched a petition and public campaign to increase penalties for dangerous drivers. Andrew’s Law was enacted by the Ford government in June.

Kirubananthan, who pleaded guilty in April, rose to apologize for the devastation he caused but there was no one from Cristillo’s family and friends to hear him. They’d all filed out of the courtroom.

“I hate myself,” he said. “It was never my intention to cause such harm.”

Driver claimed he’d fallen asleep at wheel

He claimed he’d fallen asleep on his way home and drifted into oncoming traffic. He didn’t know anyone had been injured.

What self-serving nonsense. Even his lawyer later asked the judge to redact his assertion that he fell asleep.

No apology can help Cristillo’s widow battle her cancer on her own, while trying to fill the irreplaceable vacuum left by a father who made every day special and fun for his beloved family.

On the first Father’s Day after his death, they sat in front of his tombstone and prayed for him.

“The girls still don’t fully understand why I can’t just get him out of there,” she said.

At each dinner, they set a place at the table for him beside his photo and wonder what he’s eating in heaven. They pray each night for him to come home.

“This was not an accident,” their shattered mother insisted. “The consequences will follow my daughters and myself for the rest of our lives. We carry a life sentence of our loss.”

Meanwhile, Kirubananthan’s much shorter sentence will be delivered next month.

mmandel@postmedia.com

RECOMMENDED VIDEO

1. 

   Canada
2. 

   Ontario
3. 

   NHL
4. 

   Toronto Maple Leafs
5. 

   Columnists