NY St-Amand trial: the accused requests forgiveness and the victims testify

The accused Pierre Ny St-Amand spoke at the Laval courthouse on Thursday afternoon, after parents and proven relatives, who feel abandoned by the government and the judicial system, had testified to their immense distress and the sufferings that they have to undergo since a bus rowed in a Laval daycare in 2023.

Thursday afternoon, the former bus heater accused of having rushed to a daycare in the Sainte-Rose district, killing two children and injuring six, read a statement in front of the parents of children he killed and injured.

I am aware that everything that comes from me can appease your anger and your suffering, but I want to offer my sympathies. I have no words to describe this drama and I am immensely sorry. You have lost dear beings and others were injured. I would give everything to go back. I would give everything to come back, I sincerely apologize.

After this declaration, the judge told him that Victims have the freedom and the right to accept or not your apologies.

After the hearing, at the end of the afternoon, parents questioned the sincerity of the words of the 53-year-old accused.

I would like to know if it came from him directly or if it was his defense that gave him this piece of paper telling him that he had to say thatreacted Virginia Duprat, the mother of a child who survived the drama, specifying that in The healing process It is important to know if these apologies are really sincere.

Throughout the testimonies, he had no emotion, no tear, I don’t think it came from the heartadded Mike Haddad, a father who literally fought with Pierre Ny St-Amand on the morning of the drama.

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Heartbreaking testimonies

At the start of the day, the father of one of the victims killed during the tragedy of February 8, 2023 explained to the court that he never completely healed from a fall that he made in a hospital corridor after learning the death of his daughter or the post-traumatic shock that followed.

I no longer count the hours of therapy and the number of doctors, I am still not able to do the job I loved after more than two yearsexplained the father of little Maèva when he was declared on Thursday in court.

I am always deeply broken et prisoner of sadnessof the anger and misunderstandingexplained the father of the young victim.

My darling, I loved you, I love you and I will love you foreverhe expressed before the judge and other relatives of victims who could not hold back their tears, but also before the accused, Pierre Ny St-Amand, who was completely impassive.

Just before, Marie-Christine Cloutier, the mother of little Jacob, who was 4 years old when her life was broke, had testified by videoconference from another country.

I blame him so much for taking us to this whirlwind that we have not chosen, of having brokenshe said, speaking of the accused.

We were stolen our innocent child who only asked to play with his friends and sister.

The accused, she expressed, forced us to explain to his sister why her brother was dead.

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Several relatives of victims have testified to their inability to regain happiness, the joy of life, and their inability to overcome sadness two years after the drama.

Fear follows me on a daily basis, I have difficulty entrusting my child to school transport et I’m afraid when I see a buswrote the mother of little Maèva in a letter read by a loved one.

Going to school has become super difficult. I always have a headache et The school is no longer as before, it’s a sad place, a bit like a scary filmexplained Maèva’s brother, in a letter read by his aunt.

Mélanie Goulet, whose daughter had been imprisoned under the heavy vehicle before being rescued, explained that her child, who survived, lost That day.

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She lost two friends et She lost her carelessness, her feeling of security, her lightness as well as part of her joie de vivre. A portion of the stars that shone in his eyes since his birth has turned out forever.

Her little daughter still has today a lot of difficulty tolerating too enveloping hugscar She feels stuck, stuck as she was under the bus.

Parents denounce the lack of support for victims

Like several other parents since the start of the trial, Mélanie Goulet denounced the lack of support offered to the victims.

The greatest injustice for me, she is thereshe said.

Quebec has made the choice of society to try to restore and rehabilitate those who commit the irreparable. But what about victims, smallest or larger ones? Will we all have access to the same support, by multidisciplinary teams, without any budgetary limit? Will we have housed, nourished and taken care of 100 % so that we can all focus on our healing and our recovery?

After this intervention, judge Éric Downs continued to hear testimonies, fifteen in all, people who have to live with their demons from the drama that occurred a cold and windy morning in February 2023.

The judge of the Superior Court listened to the accounts of daycare workers who live with the guilt of not having been able to save their protégés. Relatives have read children’s letters seriously injured physically and psychologically. Parents have testified to their financial difficulties since the drama, as they are unable to go back to work. Several have expressed their anxiety, their insomnia and a panoply of trauma.

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A father, who, on the morning of the tragedy, had helped to master the accused, said, like others, that he had the impression of being completely left alone, facing his demons, since February 2023.

I would like to say that I hate the accused for all this, [mais] I know he is also a victim. He is the victim of this madness which has taken hold of him and, in his moments of lucidity, if he has, he must compose with this reality, that of being the owner of the body who killed two children and does damage on a considerable number of people, physically, emotionally and mentally.

I will never forgive the act, but I can forgive manhe concluded, his throat tied by emotions.

After these testimonies, the prosecutor of the crown, Karine Dalphond, explained to the media that the statements of the victims were a very important step which allowed People who have experienced atrocious events to express themselves for the first time at the court.

The lawyer explained that the judge must consider the testimony of the victims, because There are terms, possibly to be implemented in terms of detention of the accused, even if he will be detained in a psychiatric institute and not in a prison.

Not criminally responsible

Earlier this week, a judge of the Quebec Superior Court accepted a joint recommendation of the Crown and the Defense that Pierre Ny St-Amand is not criminally responsible for the murder of two children and injuries inflicted on six other.

During his trial, the doctors said that the former 53 -year -old bus driver suffered from psychosis and did not know how to distinguish good from evil when he rushed on daycare with a bus on February 8, 2023.

After the testimonies of relatives on Thursday, judge Éric Downs said that The court recommends that the authorities of the Ministry of Justice and Organizations under its Rouffine provide and provide the victims with adequate and sufficient support in psychological matters to allow adequate treatments.

In this case, added the judge, It seems to me that there is insufficiency help at the disposal of the victims.

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He killed Jacob Gauthier, 4 years old, and a 5-year-old girl, Maèva, whose family name is covered by a non-publication order at the request of his parents.

Prosecutors have announced their intention to designate Ny St-Amand as a high -riska designation which leads to detention in hospital with restrictions.

In addition, any partial or comprehensive release should be approved by a judge and not by the mental disorder examination committee.

The hearings on the high -risk status of the accused should start next week.

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