Crown says accused in Quebec daycare deaths not criminally responsible

LAVAL, Que. — The man accused of killing two children and injuring six others when the transit bus he was driving crashed into a Montreal-area daycare two years ago should be found not criminally responsible on account of a mental disorder, a Crown prosecutor said Friday.

Prosecutor Karine Dalphond told Superior Court Justice Eric Downs that the Crown and defence will now present the facts of the case jointly when Pierre Ny St-Amand’s murder trial is back in court on April 7. Dalphond said the Crown asked a second psychiatrist to examine Ny St-Amand after a first expert concluded he should not be held criminally responsible.

“The latter arrived at the same conclusion … that the accused is not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder,” she told a Laval, Que., courtroom.

The development means that instead of the jury trial scheduled to start in April, the evidence will be heard by a judge alone, who will make the final decision on Ny St-Amand’s criminal responsibility. The trial will include a detailed recounting of the facts and testimony from both psychiatric experts.

Downs will preside over the shortened trial, which is expected to last a few days.

Ny St-Amand, 53, was arrested after a Laval city bus crashed into the front of a daycare in Laval on the morning of Feb. 8, 2023. He was originally charged with two counts of first-degree murder and other counts of attempted murder and aggravated assault. However, court documents indicate the murder charges have been downgraded to second-degree murder.

“We’re still talking about two counts of murder — but second-degree murder, after the expertise done on the accused,” Dalphond said outside the courtroom. “The other two charges involve all the young victims who suffered injuries.”

The two children killed were four-year-old Jacob Gauthier and a five-year-old girl named Maeva, whose family name is covered by a publication ban at the request of her parents. Their deaths caused an outpouring of grief across the province.

Ny St-Amand was subdued by locals and parents and arrested after his bus plowed into the daycare in Laval’s Ste-Rose neighbourhood during the busy morning drop-off period.

He has been detained since his arrest, most recently at a Montreal psychiatric hospital. He was in court Friday inside a glassed-in prisoner’s box, listening to arguments.

Parents of some of the injured children spoke to reporters outside the courtroom Friday, telling reporters it was a difficult day.

“This is not easy news to accept, we’ve been fighting this every day for two years,” said Mélanie Goulet, whose seven-year-old daughter was hurt in the crash. “I’m very, very disappointed by the justice system – very, very disappointed.”

Suspects found not criminally responsible by the courts come under the jurisdiction of a provincial review board, which holds hearings and issues decisions about whether a patient should be kept in custody.

In a statement, the Quebec Crown prosecutor’s office confirmed that prosecutors may also seek to have the suspect declared a “high-risk accused,” which would mean he would face stricter rules around absences from his designated treatment facility.

“The (Crown prosecutor’s office) is wholeheartedly with the victims and their loved ones, and we support them every step of the way,” it wrote in a statement. “Please be assured that our overriding goal is public safety.”

Outside the courtroom on Friday, prosecutor Simon Blais said a judge can choose to declare someone a high-risk offender “when crimes are of such grave nature that we can expect prejudice in the future.” The defence intends to challenge the designation.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 21, 2025.

— With files from Morgan Lowrie in Montreal.

Sidhartha Banerjee, The Canadian Press