Case of 19-year-old #chairgirl returns to Toronto courtroom
Lawyer says his client wishes the incident never happened
The 19-year-old woman accused of recklessly tossing a chair from a downtown Toronto condo balcony feels remorse for the incident, her lawyer said after a brief court appearance.
Marcella Zoia, who sparked outrage in the case, did not appear in court Friday.
She is facing charges of mischief endangering life, mischief involving damage to property and common nuisance for allegedly tossing a chair from an upper-floor balcony toward the busy Gardiner Expressway, hundreds of feet below.
Speaking to reporters outside the courthouse at Old City Hall, lawyer Gregory Leslie said his client regrets the incident, which he said has created problems between her and her mother.
“She wishes that this never happened,” he said. “It’s been a hard lesson that she’s learned.”
Leslie also said Zoia has since been expelled from her school, although he declined to elaborate on that point — except to say he believes she was wrongly expelled.
He has previously said Zoia was studying dental hygiene.
Zoia turned herself in to police on Feb. 13, days after a video of the chair-throwing incident circulated online early last month.
She was released on a $2,000 bail.
The chair landed on a sidewalk outside the condominium tower near Harbour and York Sts. No one was injured.
Leslie said he hopes to avoid a trial, adding he hopes Zoia’s case can be resolved in the next three or four months.
After briefly deleting her Instagram account following the incident, Zoia has since returned to social media. Her account had fewer than 6,000 followers before she was identified as the alleged chair-thrower — as of Friday afternoon, it had more than 14,000.
Her case is scheduled to return to court April 26.