What is the impact of the statement of the mother and sister of a convicted murderer on the sentencing of the accused?

[24] It is difficult not to be moved by the statements and the emotion expressed by the mother and father of the deceased as well as his sister. However, I keep in mind the comments of Mr. Justice Donnelly in Regina v. Green, 2000 O.J. No.3106 at paragraph 11 where dealing with similar types of statements on a similar type of charge the court stated: “But notwithstanding that dreadful loss it must be made clear that the criminal process is not an instrument of vengeance nor an instrument of appeasement. The quantification of sentence is not an attempt to place a value on human life.” Further, as Mr. Justice Watt stated in Regina v. Costa, 1996 O.J. No.299 at paragraph 42: “It is also worthy of observation that the sentence to be imposed is governed by fixed principles applied to the circumstances as I have found them to be. Too often and erroneously, it is thought to afford some measure or indication of the value which a court places upon the life of a deceased. Nothing could be further from the reality that is sentencing in criminal cases. There is no measuring of the inherent or intrinsic value of the principles, and the application of some measurement of equivalence in the sentencing process. The sentence imposed ought not to be thought reflective of the intrinsic value or worth of the deceased. It is not. That is not the function of a sentence in this or in any criminal case. No sentence will ever breathe life into the deceased person, nor restore him or her to his or her family and/or friends. Would that it were that simple.”