The driver who struck and killed an Ontario father of three last summer has pleaded guilty in a trial where prosecutors described for the first time publicly how he fled from the crash, hiding for some nine hours with a broken pelvis in a potato field before being discovered by an OPP drone operator.
At a courthouse in Newmarket on Monday, Jaiwin Kirubananthan pleaded guilty to five charges, including dangerous driving causing the death of 35-year-old Andrew Cristllo, fleeing the scene, and three counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm to the victim’s three young daughters.
Speaking to reporters outside the courtroom, Andrew’s brother Jordan said that Kirubananthan’s plea marks a “step forward” towards justice.
The driver still awaits a sentencing hearing and a separate trial on dangerous driving charges in another crash in January 2025 with a car carrying Ontario’s premier.
“This individual still needs to be sentenced. And I want to be very clear, sympathy for criminals is cruelty for the victims, and I expect to see the sentence reflect the egregiousness, the recklessness, the conscious actions of this criminal,” Jordan Cristillo said.
Andrew Cristillo was driving on Highway 48 in Whitchurch-Stouffville on the night of Aug. 3, 2025 with his wife and three young daughters when Kirubananthan, who was 18 at the time, collided with his vehicle.
The court heard that Kirubananthan was driving some 130 km/h in the 80 km/h zone and drifted across the centre line.
Surveillance video played in court shows the car speeding towards the Cristillos’ vehicle.
An agreed statement of facts says one witness in another car said to his passenger, “He’s in the wrong lane.” To which she replied, “He’s going to hit someone.”
Tragically, she was right.
Kirubananthan’s silver Rav 4 slammed into the Cristillo’s SUV, sending both cars spinning.
Cristillo was killed instantly in the head-on collision.
His wife was able to pull the girls from the wreckage. Each had broken bones and lacerations to their faces.
When first responders arrived, Kirubananthan was nowhere to be found. At 6 a.m., about nine hours later, officers used a drone to see a picture of Kirubananthan lying in a potato field, about 150 metres east of the collision.
“Upon first interacting with OPP officers, Mr. Kirubananthan told them he was not the driver. ... They did not believe Mr. Kurbananthan’s denial,” the agreed statement of facts says.
The car’s airbag system registered only one person in the car, prosecutors said. Another tell, authorities learned, was that “Mr. Kirubananthan suffered a fractured pelvis in the collision.”
Kirubananthan had previous charges
Court documents show Kirubananthan was previously charged with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle in connection with a January 2025 collision involving Ontario Premier Doug Ford.
They also show he likely faced a 30-day driving ban following the crash, which is mandatory after a stunt driving charge, but was not arrested.
The premier has showed his support for “Andrew’s Law,” which would, among other things, introduce mandatory driving bans in Ontario for motorists charged with dangerous driving until their trial is complete.
A second trial on the crash with the premier’s vehicle is scheduled for this summer.
“This individual should never have been on the road to begin with,” Jordan Cristillo said of the proposed law on Monday.
“How could someone be back on the road (in) that short period of time after hitting one of the highest public figures in Canada? It exposed a big gap in our system, and Andrew’s Law is here to close that gap.”
The legal change is currently in second reading as part of the “Keeping Criminals Behind Bars Act.”
‘We’re living a nightmare’
Asked how Cristillo’s family is doing nine months after the crash, Jordan said while their physical injuries have healed, they may never recover emotionally.
“We’re living a nightmare. ... You have three little girls that have to grow up without a father. You have his loving wife who has to raise these kids while also dealing with their own health conditions without her best friend by her side,” he said.
“The girls are beyond strong, just like their mother, the strongest woman I’ve ever met. They’re healing physically from their injuries. What concerns me is the life sentence that they’ve been given because of this criminal.”
