Angelo Epifani Drove His Car Into My

Angelo Epifani drove his car into my daughter, killing her instantly. The driver left the scene of the accident, likely fearing the repercussions and unable to face the consequences. My daughter was left lying on the street in the middle of the night, alone, to die. Her name was Jiao Shiqi. She was only 20 years old when she died, a delightful, kind, intelligent, and sweet girl.

Jiao Shiqi had her whole life ahead of her. She had immigrated to Canada not long before her untimely death. The courage it must have taken Jiao Shiqi to move to a foreign country alone was remarkable, but she handled it so well that she made friends nearly the minute she disembarked from the plane: flight AC031 direct from Beijing to Toronto Pearson.

Her marks at Columbia International College were so good, that Jiao Shiqi was planning on completing her college degree at the University of Toronto next year. She would have studied law and public policy. She would have made a great difference in the world. But she will never be allowed that opportunity now that she is gone forever. The world will miss her.

The night she died, Jiao Shiqi played her favorite game mahjong with her friends. Her boyfriend, who she met at Toronto Pearson the day Jiao Shiqi arrived in Canada, and her friends from school were with her moments before Jiao Shiqi died. Their testimony illuminates all I am saying to you, showing that it is not only the words of a loving father that honor Jiao Shiqi. One of her friends is severely traumatized, since she was one of the few to see Jiao Shiqi dead following the accident.

I never got to see my daughter one last time. She was thousands of kilometers away from us. My wife and I were lucky enough to see daughter not too long ago in China. She had come to visit us in our homeland of Jilin with her new boyfriend Freddy Shi.

When we sent my daughter to Canada last year, we expected that the journey would improve her prospects for the future and her ability to do great things in the world. It would have, for sure. Canada is a land of opportunities. Jiao Shiqi could have taken advantage of those opportunities in ways we had yet to imagine. Our family's life savings were spent on Jiao Shiqi's travel and education, because we believed in her. We knew that the cost would be well worth it, and hoped that one day we could also join Jiao Shiqi in Canada after our retirement. We never expected that her life would suddenly end, barely after it began.

In China, we still have the one-child policy. Our country is large, and the one-child policy helps to prevent major problems like starvation. However, this means of course that Jiao Shiqi was my only child. All of our hopes, and all of our parental love, was reserved for Jiao Shiqi. We believed fully and completely in her. As my only child, Jiao Shiqi was the light of my life, and of her mother's life. It is nearly impossible to imagine life without her in it. We can never replace Jiao Shiqi. Everyday we will think of her.

Our lawsuit is important to our family and too our community. The lawsuit is a symbolic one, as Jiao Shiqi was wrongfully killed. Sure, we would like to recuperate as much of the compensatory damages as possible, but this is not about money. This is about justice, pride, and what is right. Angelo Epifani of St. Catherines, Ontario is responsible for our daughter's death and must pay. Not only was Angelo Epifani driving while over the legal intoxication limit, the man had the nerve to flee the accident scene. A hit-and-run is a shameful act. I am having a difficult time fathoming how an individual could leave a totally innocent 20-year-old girl to die in the street. The accident was not a crime; but fleeing the scene certainly was. This is why I am imploring the judge to take our situation seriously and use the Canadian justice system to honor our daughter when her young voice has been silenced.

Not only was our daughter's life cut short. In a terrible tragedy that followed her death, Jiao Shiqi's personal belongings were stolen from her dead body before the police arrived on the scene. Imagine the terror that we, her parents, have, knowing that not just one but two strangers so completely dehumanized her. And what's more, it was not the first time Jiao Shiqi had experienced theft: the first time someone took her purse she was alive.