Crown expert finds Quebec man accused of fatal Laval daycare bus crash not criminally responsible

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, four-year-old Jacob Gauthier and five-year-old 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.

Why is there still a trial?

As for why there is still a trial, CityNews spoke to a criminal defence lawyer who is not tied to the case, and he explained that it’s not uncommon.

“It’s really a formality that he probably is going to recognize that he indeed committed the crime, but that at that time he was not, he couldn’t tell right from wrong,” explained Kwadwo Yeboah, a criminal defence lawyer.

“So in Canada, for you to be convicted of a crime, you have to be capable at the moment of the infraction. That’s very important. Not before, not after, but at the moment of the infraction, be in the mental state where you can really differentiate between right and wrong.”

Yeboah adds, “The Crown probably asked for two reports to make sure that is the right decision and that he cannot be found. So the judge is probably just going to find him that he actually committed the infraction, but he cannot be found guilty in front of the court.” Before explaining that it doesn’t mean the individual gets to walk, but will likely be institutionalized for a certain time with psychiatrists before being able to rejoin society.

“So like when this case happened, and I think I’ve been here before I said it’s going to be a battle of experts, right? So right away, if it’s the Crown, which are the people that bring the accusations, their evidence tells them that, hey, this person, according to our experts, is not criminally responsible. Well, the defense are not going to contest that, right? They’re probably in agreement with that. And going in front of the judge to have a trial, it’s not really a trial, it will probably take a few hours of formalities and it will be done with. He will be pronounced not criminally responsible for the infractions that happen,” Yeboah explained.

“I know these type of things, it’s very emotional and a lot of time people will not understand what happened and they might think he’s walking away for free, but I’m sure that there are seasoned Crown attorneys that did their due diligence to make sure that he was brought in front of the court.”

Adding, “So the public shouldn’t think like he got away for free by somebody did a due diligence and they’re really going according to the law because it’s true, you shouldn’t be found criminally responsible if at this time of the infraction, you were not there. Mentally, I mean, you were not there mentally.”

-With files from the Canadian Press