Owners of Vaughan daycare where girl, 2, died get 30 days for operating illegally

The owners of the Vaughan daycare where a two-year-old girl died were sentenced to 30 days in jail after being found guilty of operating an illegal daycare last month.

RuslanPanfilov,47,his wifeOlenaPanfilova,50,and herdaughterKarynaRabadanova, 26, will also each have to pay a $15,000 fine and cannot ever operate another daycare.

• Owner of unlicensed Vaughan daycare charged with manslaughter in toddler's death

• Owners of daycare where 2-year-old died guilty of operating illegally

• Vaughan unlicensed daycare owners face additonal charge in toddler's death

JosephRichardForget,thelawyer representing thethree daycare operators, said he thought the sentence was fair, and that while his clients are still dealing with other legal issues, it offersa bit ofrelief.

"At least the pressure is off," said Forget. "They were certainly very afraid of a long jail time after they had listened to the Crown."

TheCrown had been askingfor three to six years in jail and thedefence wasasking for a fine-only sentence of $20,000 to $30,000.

Olena Panfilovaadmitted that she was guilty for the number of children that she hadat her daycare at thesentencing hearing today. Through an interpreter she said that she was just trying to help parents who didn't have a lot of money.

Panfilova, PanfilovandRabadanovawill serve their 30 day sentences over weekends to allow them to work.

Theywere found guiltyofoperating anillegal child-care centreby a justice of the peace in a Newmarket court last month.

OlenaPanfilovanow faces an additional charge in connection with the illegal daycare. Shewas charged with manslaughter yesterday for the death of two-year-old Eva Ravikovich who died at the daycarein 2013.

"Essentially what we can say is we believe the death of this child is a direct result of the actions and the in-actions of the accused persons in this case, and the charges were ultimately laid following a long investigation as well as consultations with the Crown," York Regional Police Const. Laura Nicolle told CBC News on Thursday.

Twenty-seven other children and 14 dogs were in the facility on the day that the littlegirl was found withoutvital signs. No more than five children under the age of ten are allowed to be cared for in an unlicensed daycare.

A health inspector also said at the time that food that was either rotten orcontaminated withlisteria was found inside the house.

On Friday, the provincial Ministry of Education noted that in 2014, the government moved to improve access to, andstrengthen oversight over, the child-care system in Ontario by passing the Child Care and Early Years Act (CCEYA).

The legislation "clearly defines" programs that require a licence and those that do not in order to help parents make more informed decisions; increases licensedin-homechild-care services; and introduces more tools and protections to "enhance safety" at both licensed and unlicensed facilities, a spokesperson for the ministry told CBC News in an email.

Since 2003, the email statement went on, the provincial government has doubled child-care funding to $1 billion a year, and the number of licensed child-care spaces has grown 87 per cent since that year, to 351,000.

The ministry would not comment on this specific case because it is ongoing.

Police say their investigation into the daycare remains open and are still calling on anyone with information to come forward.