Parents of an eight-year-old Nanaimo boy, who was severely injured when he was hit by a vehicle at the Discovery Montessori School in December, are beyond frustrated after the woman charged in the incident apparently left Canada before her first court appearance. (Submitted Photo/NanaimoNewsNOW composition)

By Jordan Davidson

life-altering injuries

Nanaimo parents seek justice as woman charged with severely injuring young son likely fled country

Nov 6, 2025 | 5:25 AM

NANAIMO — Parents of an eight-year-old Nanaimo boy seriously injured outside his own school want justice, but the person charged in the incident has apparently left the country.

On Dec. 17, 2024, the then-seven-year-old boy was being dropped off by his father at the Discovery Montessori School parking lot on Jingle Pot Rd. when he was struck by the motorist.

A dangerous driving causing bodily harm charge was applied in June against the driver, 47-year-old Ieng Meng Lei, but a warrant was issued for her arrest after she failed to show up in court.

Speaking with NanaimoNewsNOW, the injured boy’s parents, who requested their names not be published, are beyond frustrated, as both police and the parents believe she’s no longer in Canada.

A photo of the accused’s vehicle after the incident, with the father saying his truck had to be written off with over $20,000 in damage. (Submitted)

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“We just feel like we needed a bit of justice for our child,” said the father. “It sounded like he was just being careless and got hit by a car in a parking lot, when in fact it was an adult’s complete negligence that led to almost killing him.”

Incident
What started as a typical Tuesday drive to school quickly turned into a parent’s worst nightmare.

The father said as he was dropping his son off, they saw a red Mini Cooper, hung up on a rock and stuck in place near the school’s parking lot exit.

They noticed the female driver trying in vain to move her car, but her front wheel was caught, causing her back tires to spin.

That’s when the father tried to offer some help, knocking on the driver’s window and asking her to stop attempting to accelerate and to put the car in park.

“It was clear there was some type of barrier there, a miscommunication, because she put it in reverse and floored it. The tires spun, shot up over the rock, caught on the ground, and sling-shotted backwards across the school parking lot during school drop-off. And hit my son into my truck going 47 kilometres an hour…she pinned him and crushed him.”

The father, a firefighter from the Mainland, quickly rushed to his son’s aid.

“It was at that point when I got to him, he was unresponsive, gone. I did some first-aid stuff, I did mouth-to-mouth on him, I cleared his airway, I got him breathing again, and then I stabilized his deadly bleeds and put him in C-spine until ambulance and police arrived.”

RCMP said at the time the driver remained on scene and cooperated with investigators.

The entrance/exit to the parking lot at Nanaimo’s Discovery Montessori School on Jingle Pot Rd where the incident took place. (Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

The father and his son were flown by air ambulance to an intensive care unit at a hospital in Vancouver, where he was put in a medically induced coma for five days.

He suffered a fractured neck and back, a broken pelvis in three places, his left thigh was degloved, and he suffered a severe compound fracture of his femur, requiring months in hospital and over a dozen surgeries and procedures.

“The doctors said I saved his life, and I don’t like saying that at all,” said the father, emotional at times while recounting the harrowing incident. “He would have been dead, and I would have had a woman whose fled the country with her son.”

The parents said the accused son also attended Discovery Montesorri School, and he continued to do so after the incident, but they didn’t see his mother on school grounds after.

They believe the accused was using a type of international driver’s license, not one issued by ICBC, and they’re frustrated her passport wasn’t seized during the investigation.

“She’s MIA, and we’re still faced with this family and [our son’s] medical stuff going on,” said the father. “We went through wheelchairs here, ramps, crutches…and we’re still dealing with that, we’re still dealing with the headache of ICBC no-fault, which is a f***ing nightmare.”

Legal Recourse
ICBC’s Enhanced Care model, also known as no-fault insurance, was introduced in 2021.

The drastic policy shift doesn’t allow victims to sue for compensation except in rare situations, explained Greg Phillips, a Nanaimo-based lawyer with the Johnston Franklin Bishop law firm.

“The only exceptions to the no-fault regime are if there is a conviction under a very short list of criminal charges, one of which is dangerous driving causing bodily harm. But, if the defendant is never convicted, then that exception is never engaged.”

Phillip’s said while it’s been part of ICBC’s system for a few years now, if you feel you’re not being treated fairly by the crown corporation, there’s very little a lawyer can do for you.

“It’s designed to save ICBC money, but it does that on the backs of people who are innocent motorists or innocent pedestrians, or in this case, innocent kids who are hurt. That’s who’s ultimately paying for those savings.”

For the parents, no compensation could make up for what could very well be a lifetime of physical and mental trauma.

The parents were off work for about six months since the incident, with the mother returning to work in the summer, while the father is still on leave, also dealing with trauma from his job as a firefighter.

“Seeing your son dead really [messed] me up….this was kind of the straw that broke my back.”

They’re not sure of the long-term impacts of their son’s injuries, with more procedures and rehabilitation in his future.

“Now he can do all of those things like run and ride a bike, thankfully…but for months I remember going to pick him up and just watching him watch all the other kids play.”

But the mental and emotional wounds will likely take even longer to heal as the family continues advocating for justice for their son.

In addition to an in-person interview, the family provided a statement to NanaimoNewsNOW:

“The family would like to acknowledge and again thank the parents and staff at the school who assisted on scene, local firefighters and ambulance service, ER staff at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital and the air ambulance staff.

They would also like to thank the endless support from the staff at BC Children’s Hospital from the ER, trauma team, pediatric ICU and surgical and OR staff including the nurses and orthopedic and plastic surgeons on floor six, Sunny Hill Health Centre staff, the BC Burn Fund Centre and the City of Vancouver and the Vancouver Fire Rescue Services. “

NanaimoNewsNOW also contacted Discovery Montessori School for comment on the family’s status with the school and if any steps were taken after the incident to address parking lot safety.

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