Laval daycare attack bus driver: more time requested for disclosure of evidence, back in court end of Sept.

The court case of a man who allegedly deliberately drove his bus into a Laval daycare in February, killing two young children, and injuring six others, was postponed on Tuesday, as a prosecutor requested more time to finish disclosing evidence – which includes expertise on the bus involved in the crash.

Pierre Ny St-Amand was arrested after a city bus crashed into the front of Garderie Éducative Sainte-Rose on Feb. 8, killing two four-year-olds and injuring six other children. The 51-year-old former city bus driver was charged with two counts of first-degree murder as well as seven other charges, including attempted murder and aggravated assault.

Quebec court Judge Carol Richer put off the case to Sept. 26, after the Crown said it needed more time for the disclosure of evidence. The case has been postponed several times, including at the least hearing in June – when both parties requested more time to study a psychiatric evaluation.

Speaking after the brief court hearing, both the Crown and defence said the extensions were not unusual in a case this complex.

The crown, Karine Dalphond, saying she’s hopeful the case will move forward in September, but could not say if another delay will happen. Adding in French, “disclosure is still incomplete, but we’re hopeful that this will be done by the next date.” And that they are waiting on an expert report from police, among other elements.

“If they don’t give all the information that they have or all the proof that they have against the individual, well, that’s a cause for appeal, right? So they really have to give everything they have, so he can have the constitutional right,” says Kwadwo Yeboah a Montreal lawyer.

Yeboah says due to the complexity of the case there may be more delays before it goes to trial. Currently, six months since St.Amand was taken into custody, Yeboah says it is worrisome following the implementation of the 2016 Jordan ruling.

“The crown has up to about 18 months to bring somebody in front for their trial, and if they don’t, there’s a chance that it can be the case can be thrown out by a court,” says Yeboah.

St-Amand was not at the hearing Tuesday and remains detained at the Institut Philippe-Pinel. A psychiatric evaluation will remain sealed for now, but the defence, Julien Lespérance Hudon, expects it will be made public within the trial itself.

He says the delays in the case are nothing to worry about, especially as it’s an “important” case, more complex than average and that there is a “significant” amount of evidence, adding that he was not afraid that the process was moving too slowly, or that it wouldn’t come to trial within prescribed time limits.

Adding, “the file is moving in normal pace, already you have to understand that it is a really big file, there are a lot of unknowns and analyzes to do regarding the bus or the testimony, the medical report it is a lot of evidence…that takes a few months to do so.”

The accused in the Laval daycare bus attack, Pierre Ny St-Amand, faces many charges including two counts of first-degree murder. (Credit: Facebook/Pierre Ny St-Amand)

Karine Dalphond, crown prosecutor, at Laval court on Aug. 22, 2023. (CREDIT: Martin Daigle, CityNews Image)

Defence lawyer Julien Lespérance Hudon outside courtroom in Laval on Aug. 22, 2023. (CREDIT: Martin Daigle, CityNews Image)

• READ MORE: Laval daycare bus attack driver remains at Pinel, next court date in August

“It’s a really big file, there’s a lot of (analysis) to do regarding the bus, the testimony, the medical report,” Lespérance Hudon said. “There’s a lot, a lot of evidence, and it’s normal that it takes a few months.”

St-Amand was judged fit to stand trial on Feb. 24 following a psychiatric evaluation in the weeks after his arraignment. A separate evaluation that assessed St-Amand’s mental state at the time of the alleged crime, and whether the accused should be held criminally responsible, was sealed by a judge in April.

Dalphond said Tuesday’s postponement was not due to the psychiatric evaluations, but to elements of a more technical nature.