Pierre Ny St-Amand has been named a high-risk offender after killing two children and injuring six others when he drove a city bus into a daycare in Laval, north of Montreal, in 2023.
Quebec Superior Court Judge Éric Downs confirmed his judgment on Monday, as the families of the children sat teary-eyed in the courtroom.
In his statement, Downs said that the nature of the crime was so brutal that there was a risk Ny St-Amand could reoffend.
As the judge spoke of his 103-page ruling, Ny St-Amand sat quietly, looking at the ground under the eyes of the children’s families.
Last April, he was found not criminally responsible for the attack on Feb. 8, 2023.
Downs said he had likely been in psychosis when he crashed the bus he was driving into the daycare, killing four-year-old Jacob Gauthier and a five-year-old girl, whose name is protected by a publication ban.
He said he chose to accept the joint conclusion from the Crown and the defence that Ny St-Amand was unable to discern right from wrong at the time of the fatal crash.
- READ MORE: One year later: Parents, first responders on coping with trauma after deadly Laval daycare bus crash
During the trial, a psychiatrist testified that the 53-year-old had untreated post-traumatic stress disorder from his childhood as an orphan in war-torn Cambodia and might have targeted the daycare as a way of “killing his own past.”
The former city bus driver was first charged with two counts of second-degree murder, as well as assault with a weapon and assault causing bodily harm in relation to the six other children who were injured.
High-risk offender
Being named a high-risk offender, a designation sought by the Crown, would impose stricter rules on Ny St-Amand while he is detained at a psychiatric hospital.
Monday, Downs confirmed that Ny St-Amand is expected to remain in residence at the Philippe-Pinel psychiatric hospital in Montreal.
He will not be allowed to leave the premises, with the exception of medical appointments, where he will be obliged to have an escort.
Having already shown progress, Downs encouraged Ny St-Amand to continue his treatment plan.
The judge ruled that there is no risk to the public and stated that Ny St-Amand’s constitutional rights, as well as his right to dignity, are not being violated.
His lawyers had argued that the status reinforces the stereotype of the “criminal lunatic” who can never be rehabilitated.
Eric Sutton, a criminal defence attorney, calls the conclusion a “restrictive finding,” explaining that the designation is reserved for people who pose a “substantial risk to public safety” or if “the crime was of such a brutal nature that it would be in the public interest.”
“There is the notion that if you’re criminally not responsible, that any kind of restriction is incompatible with that finding, and this really amounts to a prison sentence,” he said. “This finding is more restrictive than what could be imposed on an actual criminal who’s found guilty.”
Sutton adds that a person’s high-risk offender status can be reviewed every one to two years.
“The most obvious scenario would be where he is open to treatment...it could be medical and psychological, such that the health professionals that are treating him are no longer persuaded that he should have that designation,” he said.
Sutton notes that the overturning of a high-offender status can be emotional, if not traumatic, for the victims’ families.
“Whenever there’s a violent crime and death, there’s a public outcry or a huge impact on the community, but it’s much worse when you look at the vulnerability of the people involved,” he said. “These are children in a daycare where you hope they will be safe.”
The president of Quebec’s mental health review board has previously testified that 17 people have been designated high-risk offenders in the province since 2014, and 12 still have that status.
With files from The Canadian Press
