The 81-year-old Toronto man who drove down three family members after he was excluded from his late partner’s will has been given a life sentence with no chance of parole for 18 years.
Ciro Garofano’s actions killed one of the three people he struck, and he will serve his sentence with concurrent 10-year sentences for the aggravated assaults of the two victims who survived.
Garofano showed no emotion on Tuesday as Superior Court Justice Jane Kelly delivered her sentence for the second-degree murder of 61-year-old Karen Montague, the niece of Garofano’s late common-law wife, Elsie Gilchrist.
Montague’s husband, Wayne, and Gilchrist’s sister Joyce Collins, 88, were also attacked.
It was Nov. 15, 2023, when the Montagues, Collins, and Collins’ daughter Eileen Mignardi went to the apartment at 250 Cassandra Blvd, where Garofano had lived with Gilchrist for over 40 years. The couple was unmarried and had no children together. Gilchrist was his senior.
According to an agreed statement of facts read out when Garofano pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in May, Gilchrist had moved out of the building four years earlier and into a nursing home. She died in July 2023.
Prior to her death, Gilchrist gave power of attorney over her finances to her niece, Karen Montague. Sometime before Nov. 15, 2023, Garofano and Karen Montague spoke about clearing Gilchrist’s belongings from the apartment.
Gilchrist’s four relatives arrived in a car being driven by Wayne Montague and parked in the visitors’ parking lot. Garofano told them he would wait in his car while they cleared out the apartment.
Garofano moved his car from the underground parking lot to the circular parking lot of the building above ground next to the visitors’ lot. After clearing out a few of Gilchrist’s boxes and household items, Karen Montague and Collins went to speak to Garofano, who was in his vehicle.
Three residents from the building heard yelling outside that sounded like a heated argument. As Karen Montague and Collins walked back towards Wayne Montague’s vehicle, Garofano drove his vehicle at them, striking them both. Garofano then mounted the curb and struck Wayne Montague.
Garofano reversed and proceeded to drive twice around the roundabout, running his vehicle over Karen Montague two further times.
At a sentencing hearing last month, Assistant Crown attorney Megan Petrie argued there were elements of planning, but Kelly said she was unable to conclude that the attack was planned and deliberate.
The Crown had asked for 22 to 23 years before being eligible for parole for the life sentence, while defence argued 16 years would be more appropriate.
“The crime itself was horrific. It was senseless and brutal,” Kelly told court, pointing out that all the victims were unarmed and vulnerable.
“Regardless of motivation (animus or an argument), Mr. Garofano drove over the victims in broad daylight in front of others,” Kelly added.
Kelly also quoted from Crown counsel, who told court “the fabric of the family was ripped apart,” saying Garofano caused the family “catastrophic trauma.”
Kelly said in arriving at the 18-year period of parole ineligibility, she considered Garofano’s guilty plea, dated criminal regard, age and the harsh conditions of his pre-sentence custody at the Toronto South Detention Centre.
At the sentencing hearing last month, Garofano declined when asked if he had anything to say to the court.
Garofano left the courtroom in a wheelchair wearing an orange prison jumpsuit to begin serving his sentence. He will be eligible to apply for parole when he’s 97 years old.
He has been in custody since his arrest, when he was 79 years old.