

Joshua Freeman, CP24.com





The mother of a teenager who was left to die on a roadway after being struck by a vehicle in Brampton over the weekend says her daughter deserved better.

"Whatever happened to her, she didn't deserve to be thrown like an animal or something. Even animals don't die that way,” Savi Lakeram told CTV News Toronto Monday.

Lakerman’s 16-year-old daughter, Dianna Manan, was found lying in the eastbound lanes of Queen Street, near Cherrycrest Drive in Brampton at around 12:20 a.m. on Sunday.

A passing motorist found the teen suffering from a head injury and called Peel police.

Manan was rushed to hospital, but did not survive.

The vehicle that struck her fled the scene, police said.

Speaking about her daughter Monday, Lakeram said Manan was a “happy kid” who dreamed of being a doctor.

"She said she wanted to be a paediatrician," Lakeram said. "That's not going to happen, because she's not here."

Manan was a Grade 11 student at Aurora High school before she moved to Toronto to live with her grandmother in September.

Speaking to CTV News Toronto, one of her former classmates remembered her as a free spirit who “lit up” any room she entered.

“She was very outgoing. She didn’t really care what anybody else thought of her. She just lit up the room, honestly, and it’s really disappointing that she’s gone.”

Lakeram says she has no idea why her daughter was in Brampton on the night that she died. Friends picked her up from her grandmother’s house in Toronto at around 10 a.m. on Jan. 4 and she never returned home.

"She never mentioned Brampton," Lakeram said. "I know somebody out there knows something about her."

Speaking through tears, she said nothing can bring her daughter back now.

“I just love her so much, but I can’t bring her back,” Lakeram said.

There is no description of the suspect vehicle so far, but police are urging the driver to get a lawyer and turn themselves in.

Police are also asking anyone who may have been in the area at the time or who may have dashcam or surveillance footage from the area to contact investigators.

- with files from CTV News Toronto Reporter Tracy Tong