Guilty verdict comes too late for parents of toddler who died at daycare

A guilty verdict for three people who ran an overcrowded daycare where a two-year-old girl died in 2013 is welcome, but it comes too late, Toronto lawyer Patrick Brown tells the Toronto Star.

“Although the operators were found guilty, this type of prosecution should have been brought by the Ministry of Education well before Eva died,” says Brown, partner with McLeish Orlando LLP.

Brown is representing two-year-old Eva Ravikovich’s parents, Ekaterina and Vycheslav Ravikovich, in their lawsuit against the province and daycare operators.

Step forward

He tells the Star his clients welcome the guilty verdict as a step forward, but a step too late.

Government inspectors failed to look into four complaints about the daycare at 343 Yellowood Circ. in Vaughan, Brown adds. The complaints had to do with the number of children in the unlicensed daycare.

According to the Day Nurseries Act, home daycares are allowed to operate without a licence only if they look after no more than five children.

Eva was found lifeless inside the daycare on July 8, 2013.

Police continue to investigate the circumstances of her death, according to the Star. Two of the daycare owners were charged last fall with obstructing police and destroying evidence, and a completed coroner’s report into the cause of Eva’s death has not been released because of the ongoing investigation.