For the latest, read our story on the judge's sentencing handed down on Tuesday.
The driver who killed two people and injured several others when she plowed her SUV into a crowd of guests at a West Vancouver wedding won’t face any criminal charges for her actions. Nor can she be sued for damages, due to B.C.’s no-fault insurance system.
In North Vancouver Provincial Court on Monday, Crown counsel recommended that the accused Hong Xu receive a $2,000-fine and a five-year driving prohibition for driving without due care and attention under the Motor Vehicle Act.
Speaking through a Mandarin interpreter, 65-year-old Xu entered a plea of guilty to the charge.
Reading from an agreed statement of facts, Crown counsel Kevin Masse recalled to a packed courtroom the events leading up to the sentencing hearing.
On a sunny, warm evening on Aug. 20, 2022, around 100 people had gathered for a wedding at a home on Keith Road in West Vancouver. Guests were mulling about the courtyard, driveway and roadway around the property waiting for the dinner reception to start, the court heard.
At around 6:10 p.m., Xu – who lives in a neighbouring home – drove her Range Rover out of her driveway.
Xu honked her horn briefly to alert the wedding guests on the roadway to her presence, Masse said. As the guests began to move aside for the vehicle to pass, the accused’s SUV accelerated at speed through the crowd.
Xu’s Range Rover collided with two stone pillars before coming to a stop on an ornamental fountain in the courtyard of the wedding party. Several guests were struck by the vehicle or pieces of the stone pillar, the court heard.
First responders attended the horrific incident. Despite lifesaving efforts, two women in their 60s died on the scene. Seven other guests, including a one-year-old child, were sent to hospital with injuries that included collarbone fractures, a collapsed lung and lacerations.
Police observed Xu outside her vehicle, screaming and crying, Masse said. She was admitted to the psychiatric ward at Lions Gate Hospital, where she was described as being in a transient amnesiac state, largely mute and catatonic.
After recovering, Xu spoke with psychiatrists, telling them she attempted to brake her vehicle but must have inadvertently stepped on the accelerator.
She expressed remorse, and said she prayed there was some way to reverse the damage she’d done, Masse told the court. Psychiatrists concluded that there was no obvious mental factor that could have caused the collision.
An investigation by West Vancouver Police Department found no evidence of drugs, alcohol, distracted driving or vehicle malfunction, the court heard. All evidence suggested Xu inadvertently stepped on the accelerator rather than the brake.
Victims describe lasting toll of horrific incident
The court then heard nine victim impact statements from family members of the deceased and people who sustained life-altering injuries. Many of them described the debilitating mental and physical pain they continue to endure, and the mounting cost associated with treatment – much of it not covered by provincial insurance.
Among them were family members of Annie Kong – one of the deceased – who have recently gone public with their frustrations with ICBC and the province’s no-fault insurance system.
Widower Liong Kong described holding his beloved wife of 46 years in his arms as she died.
“No matter how hard I cry, I’m haunted by the way she died,” he said.
During this period of extreme stress and mourning, Liong said the lengthy process to settle his wife’s estate is also taking a great toll.
“I’m now out tens of thousands of dollars,” he said. “This is now adding not only salt to grievous injury, but an unconscionable act of piling debt on the death.”
The maximum penalty for driving without due care and attention is $2,000 or six-months in prison, along with a driving prohibition.
Masse acknowledged that, given the deaths and serious injuries, some might feel that a jail sentence would be appropriate. But that’s a “very rare” sentence, which has only been handed down in criminal cases after the accused has pleaded guilty to lesser offences.
A charge and conviction under the Motor Vehicle Act carries less moral blameworthiness and less penalty than a criminal offence, Masse said.
“The court is not sentencing the accused for causing the deaths of [the two women] or seriously injuring others,” he said. “The conduct at issue is inadvertently pressing the accelerator.”
Aggravating factors in the sentencing were the deaths of the two women, and Xu’s driving, which includes fines for speeding, disobeying traffic signs and driving while using an electronic device.
Mitigating factors are that Xu has voluntarily stopped driving since the incident, expressed remorse and entered an early guilty plea.
Masse also noted a restitution request from Liong Kong for around $55,000 for probate fees and estate legal fees.
Appropriate charge better than lengthy trial and acquittal, defence says
Defence lawyer Ian Donaldson agreed with the Crown’s sentencing submission.
“Even though it doesn’t appear to be a popular one … but Crown counsel in this province, thankfully, acts on a principled basis,” he said. “It’s far better if there be an appropriate charge and plea and resolution than that there be a larger charge with much fanfare and a lengthy trial that results in an acquittal.”
Speaking through her interpreter, Xu addressed the court directly.
“I am deeply sorry for the consequences caused by this accident,” she said. “From the bottom of my heart, I express my deepest apologies to the victims and their families.”
Speaking after the hearing, the Kong family said that no justice would be served in this case.
When Liong first heard of the charge and associated fine, he told his children that it was like his wife had been killed again.
“Legally, killed a second time,” he said.
Donaldson also called the province's no-fault insurance regime a “bad system.”
“Saskatchewan, as an example, has a system where you can opt out, where you as an insured can say, ‘OK, I pay my basic car insurance, and I’m opting out of no-fault because if I’m catastrophically injured, I want to be able to sue,” he said.
“That’s not what happened here,” Donaldson said.
