Pierre Ny St-Amand, the Laval city bus driver who crashed his bus into a daycare, killing two children and injuring several others, was in a state of psychosis when it happened.
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The detail came out on Monday at the Laval courthouse during a hearing where Superior Court Justice Éric Downs heard arguments on requests for publication bans when Ny St-Armand, 53, undergoes a trial, beginning on April 7, to determine whether he was not criminally responsible for what he did.
The crash occurred on Feb. 8, 2023. A four-year-old boy and a five-year-old girl were killed.
Following his arrest, Ny St-Amand was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and the attempted murder of the occupants of the daycare on Terrasse Dufferin by driving the bus into it, as well as six counts of assault on children who were born in 2018 and 2017.
Ny St-Amand was scheduled to undergo a jury trial soon, but, on Friday, Downs agreed with a request Ny St-Amand be tried before a judge alone to determine whether he was not criminally responsible for what happened. A new indictment was filed and Ny St-Amand is now charged with two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of assault. The judge said it might take five weeks to complete the trial.
On Monday, lawyers from both sides of the case submitted a brief admission to the court stating Ny St-Amand was “in a state of psychosis” when the crash occurred.
The admission was made while Downs heard arguments on whether he should lift a publication ban on a video that will be presented during the trial as well as publication bans related to the identities of members of Ny St-Amand’s family and on his finances.
The Crown, represented by prosecutors Karine Dalphond and Simon Blais, requested the publication ban on the video.
Marc-André Nadon, a lawyer representing La Presse and Agence QMI, called the video “an important facet” of the trial to come and, therefore, the public should be allowed to see parts of it.
The crash was “ a significant tragedy that marked Quebec,” Nadon said.