‘He stole our innocent child’: Families of fatal Quebec daycare crash relate heavy toll

The mother of a four-year-old boy killed when a city bus plowed into a Montreal-area daycare in 2023 told a courtroom on Thursday how angry she is at the accused for “breaking” her family.

“He stole our innocent child who only wanted to play with his friends and his sister,” said Marie-Christine Cloutier about the man on trial for killing her son Jacob and a five-year-old girl, and injuring six other children on Feb. 8, 2023.

Cloutier and other members of families affected by the attack read victim-impact statements in a courtroom in Montreal’s northern suburb of Laval, Que., days after a Superior Court judge found the accused — fifty-three-year-old former city bus driver Pierre Ny St-Amand — not criminally responsible for what he did.

“I am so angry with him for dragging us into this whirlwind we didn’t choose, for breaking us,” Cloutier told the courtroom through a video stream.

“We cannot imagine everything that these people have been through,” said Crown prosecutor Simon Blais.

On Tuesday, Justice Éric Downs accepted 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. Psychiatrists for the Crown and the defence had both concluded Ny St-Amand was likely experiencing psychosis when he drove the bus into the daycare, killing Jacob and a five-year-old girl named Maëva, whose family name is covered by a publication ban at the request of her parents.

Downs’ ruling came as cold comfort to some in the courtroom on Thursday.

In a statement read into the record, Maëva’s mother, who wasn’t present in court, said the loss of her little girl has deeply shaken the family, adding that it has been difficult to explain to her two other children how to live with this trauma. “They can’t understand why the person who turned our lives upside down isn’t criminally responsible,” she wrote.

Maëva’s father spoke about how his youngest child had just celebrated her fifth birthday on Feb. 1. He described her as “creative, focused, meticulous, playful.”

On one of her final mornings with the family, Maëva asked to be filmed behind a small cake topped with a candle. She closed her eyes and said, “I wish that the whole family remains together,” her father told the court.

He said she then blew out the candle, opened her eyes, and smiled hopefully. “Some wishes are lost,” he said.

Cloutier said she will never get an answer as to why her child was taken from her. “At 36, we’re not supposed to prepare our child’s funeral.”

Another parent of a child who was injured stared at Ny St-Amand in the face and said he can’t forgive the action, but he can forgive the man accused.

“I know for every parent at the daycare the 8th of February is very hard, but we didn’t know to what extent,” said Mélanie Goulet, whose daughter was injured in the crash.

Thursday was the first time loved ones of victims were heard from in the process.

“The victims until now have unfortunately had little place in the process and this was the day for these people to be able to express themselves, after experiencing atrocious events,” said Crown prosecutor, Karine Dalphon. “They told the court the consequences of it and it was important to do so.”

While the statements were read in a courtroom thick with tears and emotion, Ny St-Amand sat impassively in the prisoner’s box.

“I talked about what happened to my family, my daughter, how she’s changed,” Goulet said. “But also it was important to me to mention there was a very big difference between the care that the accused s receiving and the care that we receive — like for me the biggest injustice is right there.”

The judge made a recommendation to the Quebec Justice Ministry for mental health services to be improved for the victims’ families.

“I hope it comes true, but the first step is in,” Goulet said. “He recommended something, I’m really happy about that.”

When testimonies were finished late Thursday afternoon, Ny St-Amand was able to make a statement.

In a faint voice, Ny St-Amand addressed the court and the families of the victims saying he sincerely apologizes and that he doesn’t have the words to describe the drama. He said he is conscious of the pain he’s inflicted. “I want to express my sympathies,” he said.

But some of the mothers present said they didn’t feel it was sincere or that it even came directly from him.

“I never see any expression on his face, any tears — nothing — throughout the whole process,” Goulet said. “For him to talk now, it’s too late, it doesn’t mean anything.”

The testimonies in court won’t be taken lightly in the next steps to be outlined for Ny St-Amand.

“The judge is obliged to take them into consideration,” said Blais.

Prosecutors have said they plan to argue that Ny St-Amand should be declared a high-risk offender, a designation that would impose stricter rules on him and require any decision taken by the provincial mental health tribunal to be confirmed by the Superior Court.

Ny St-Amand’s lawyers have announced they will challenge the Crown’s position.