Man charged with two counts 2nd-degree murder in deaths of his mother and neighbour in Vaudreuil-Dorion

A 44-year old man was charged on Friday morning with two counts of second-degree murder in the stabbing deaths of his mother and neighbour in a Vaudreuil-Dorion condo building.

The victims are his 68-year-old mother Elisabetta Caucci-Puglisi and 53-year-old neighbour Manon Blanchard. The suspect also allegedly stabbed a 70-year-old woman, she is in stable condition in hospital.

Fabio Puglisi appeared at Salaberry-de-Valleyfield court on Friday and was also charged with attempted murder and aggravated assault.

During a brief court appearance by video conference from a provincial police station, the accused, whose hands were bandaged, was ordered by Quebec court Judge Joey Dubois to undergo a psychiatric evaluation to determine whether he can stand trial. The request was made by defence lawyer Alexandre Dubé and was not challenged by the Crown.

“His lawyer has reason to believe that the man is not fit to stand trial,” prosecutor Lili Prévost-Gravel told reporters at the courthouse in Valleyfield, Que. “For the moment, therefore, there is an evaluation that has been requested by the court.” Puglisi is due to return to court on Thursday.

During the appearance, Puglisi rambled, talking over the lawyers at times as they discussed the case in the courtroom. He ended the appearance by saying “on that date, mon amour,” before returning to detention.

Shortly before noon on Thursday, Puglisi allegedly stabbed his mother to death. He then allegedly attacked two neighbours who live on the same floor, as they tried to intervene to defend the woman.

Emergency services found the bodies of the two women and transported the third victim to hospital.

“I was very shocked and disturbed to see that something like this was happening in my neighbourhood,” said Svetlana Chernienko, a mental health and domestic abuse advocate. “Since the pandemic started, we had many femicides, but the one issue that we’re not talking about is that in 2021, the rate of family violence has gone up and 69 per cent of them are women and that’s a big issue in Canada.”

Sûreté du Québec says the suspect was known to police.

Puglisi has a history of mental health issues.

Court documents show that Puglisi has twice been found not criminally responsible for offences in 2012 and 2020.

The first involved charges of assault with a weapon, dangerous driving and hit-and-run stemming from a 2011 road-rage incident on a Montreal highway. A mental-health review decision described it as “an attack on a motorist on the highway in a paranoid delusional experience.”

The second was a 2018 fraud case involving the sale of a fake work of art attributed to celebrated Quebec artist Jean-Paul Riopelle. 

In an October 2020 decision by the province’s mental-health review board, the Commission d’examen des troubles mentaux, he was deemed not to represent a risk to public safety and was released without condition. At that time, his mental state was considered stable, no violence was reported and he lived with his mother, to whom he provided care. The commission found he was well supported by family. 

The reports noted Puglisi’s psychiatric history dates back to 2007, with a diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder.

More recently, court records show Puglisi was charged after he allegedly assaulted a woman with whom he had no connection in Vaudreuil-Dorion on Nov. 16. He was due in court last week in that case.

“If he’s someone who needs mental health help, he should have been provided with mental health help,” Chernienko said. “If he had a violent past, then maybe he shouldn’t have been released. He should have been given treatment.”

Neighbours were still in shock on Friday.

One woman who lives in the building right across said it’s not the first time that the police have gone there.

“It’s always the same guy that’s coming out with the police. And the last time, which I think is in November, we saw four policemen trying to hold the guy down. And he was yelling at us, call the real police because those are not the real police,” explained Diane Laflèche.

Gilles and Marjorie Bastien have lived in the building for four years. They weren’t home when it happened, but tell CityNews that they saw police and lots of ambulances afterwards.

“We knew the gentleman. Well, we saw him in the elevator, because he had a nice dog and we just you know like neighbours,” said Marjorie. “We just said, ‘Hello, how are you,’ that was it,” Gilles said.

“You don’t expect to see anything like that here and it’s a friendly building everyone knows everybody else and well, we’re all of a certain age, but there is a good mixture of people, but no it was a big shock, big shock.”

Puglisi was also ordered Friday not to contact the neighbour who survived Thursday’s attack or members of her family. He will appear in person during his next court appearance, the judge told the accused.

The accused will remain detained and is due back in court Feb. 22.

Speaking to reporters Friday, Quebec Premier François Legault noted he grew up near Vaudreuil-Dorion and knows many people in the region. He said he was “angered” by the killings but did not want to rush to judgment or propose tougher legislation without knowing more.

“It’s too soon to know whether this could have been prevented,” Legault said during an event in L’Assomption, Que. “The investigation has to happen and we have to see exactly what happened and whether we should have known that this man was dangerous.”

“We will begin by properly analyzing the case before leaping to judgment,” Legault added. “But if it is necessary to be more severe, we will be.”