The man who crashed a bus into a Laval daycare in 2023, Pierre Ny St-Amand, has been declared a high-risk offender after killing two children and injuring six others.
The families of the victims gathered in the courtroom Monday as Judge Éric Downs confirmed his judgment.
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Downs stated in his ruling that the nature of the crime was so brutal that there was a risk Ny St-Amand could reoffend.
Ny St-Amand’s lawyers say applying high-risk accused status to people declared not criminally responsible violates several articles of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
They say in their legal briefing that the high-risk status assumes such accused are irredeemable and reinforces the stereotype of the “criminal lunatic.”
In April 2025, Ny St-Amand was found not criminally responsible for the crash after Downs ruled he had likely experienced psychosis. The Crown and the defence jointly concluded that Ny St-Amand was unable to discern right from wrong at the time of the fatal crash.
As a high-risk accused, Ny St-Amand will now face stricter rules while he is detained at a psychiatric hospital.
