Latest news with #St-Amand
Montreal Gazette
01-05-2025
- Montreal Gazette
Laval daycare crash: Court hears emotional statements from relatives of children who died or were injured
News By Boxes of tissues were strategically placed in many spots of a Laval courtroom Thursday as emotions were expected to run high while the relatives of the children who died or were injured when Pierre Ny St-Amand drove a Laval city bus into a daycare gave emotional statements about a tragedy that will never make sense. Earlier this week, St-Amand was declared not criminally responsible for the deaths of the two children who died and the injuries suffered by six other children. Superior Court Justice Éric Downs delivered the decision on Tuesday after hearing and reading evidence provided by two psychiatrists who found St-Amand was suffering from a psychosis and was unable to tell right from wrong on Feb. 8, 2023 when he brought the bus into the daycare's parking lot, aimed it at the facade and accelerated it before it crashed. Downs ordered that St-Amand remain detained at the Philippe-Pinel Institute for the time being. He will later hear arguments on whether St-Amand can be considered a 'high risk accused,' a term from the Criminal Code that would make it more difficult for him to be released from detention. St-Amand appeared emotional at times while the statements were read. At other times he appeared to be tired as he stared at the space in front of him while he sat in the prisoner's dock of the courtroom. He is now balder than he was when two photos, published by many media, were taken of him sometime before the tragedy. He wears glasses and there is a lot of grey in his hair. Some of the people delivered their own statements while others who found it too difficult had them read by another person. Some made mention of feeling 'abandoned by the system' that allowed St-Armand to avoid being tried on two second-degree murder charges and other charges related to the children who were injured. Instead of having a murder trial before a jury, St-Amand had a trial before a judge alone to determine whether he could be found not criminally responsible. The first to give a statement was Marie-Christine Cloutier, the mother of Jacob Gauthier, one of the children killed in the crash. Cloutier gave her statement through a video conference from another country. The distance first appeared to help her, but she eventually broke down and cried while she spoke about losing her son. 'I still tell this story like it is not mine,' Cloutier said. 'I have not accepted the death of my son. 'I will always be the mother of a boy who was killed by a Laval city bus driver.' Prosecutor Karine Dalphond read several statements from the relatives into the court record. One of the mothers of the injured children described the permanent injuries her child was left with and how she feels the justice system 'let us all fall.' 'The physical injuries were just the start,' the mother wrote, adding that her child still has fears of being left alone. She also described how she lost her job because she was working on a contract when the tragedy occurred and she spent days being at her child's side during a long stay at a hospital.
Montreal Gazette
29-04-2025
- Montreal Gazette
Laval daycare crash: Bus driver found not criminally responsible for tragedy in which children died
Montreal Crime By Pierre Ny St-Amand, the man who drove a Laval city bus into a daycare, killing two children and seriously injuring six others, was found not criminally responsible for his actions due to a mental health problem. While reading from parts of a lengthy decision at the Laval courthouse Tuesday, Justice Éric Downs said the court was convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that St-Amand, 53, was suffering from a psychosis on Feb. 8, 2023, when he crashed the bus into the daycare. 'It is recognized that the accused committed the acts. It is recognized that, at the moment, the accused had mental health problems that rendered him not criminally responsible according to the Criminal Code,' Downs said, ordering that St-Amand remain detained at the Philippe Pinel Institute, a psychiatric hospital, for the time being. 'His movements will not be free. He is detained.' Earlier this month, Downs heard testimony from two psychiatrists who agreed that St-Amand was in a state of psychosis when the tragedy occurred. The judge made several references to what psychiatrist Kim Bédard-Charrette said in court and in a detailed report filed to the court. Before the crash, St-Amand was preparing to marry a woman he had been in a relationship with for a long time. This involved having to provide documents he did not have to a notary, causing stress that, according to the psychiatrists, opened doors to a very traumatic past he had tried to forget. He was born in Cambodia in 1972, shortly before the Khmer Rouge began its totalitarian and violent rule of the country, between 1975 and 1979. The Khmer Rouge killed hundreds of thousands of their political opponents. St-Amand's parents were killed and he was moved from one refugee camp to another while being looked after by a cousin. The cousin also was killed. In 1982, he was sent to Canada by a humanitarian agency with no documents concerning his past and was adopted by a family in Quebec. On the court record, St-Amand's date of birth is recorded as Jan. 1, 1972, but when he arrived in Canada, there was no record of when he was actually born. 'He wanted to kill himself, or destroy his past or destroy the base of his past,' said Downs, quoting Sylvain Faucher, the other psychiatrist who evaluated St-Amand. The judge will later hear arguments on how St-Amand should be detained in the future. The Crown has asked that he be declared a 'high risk' to public security. Downs said he will hear statements on Thursday from the families of the children who were killed or injured.
