CP NewsAlert: Accused in fatal Quebec daycare bus crash declared high-risk offender

By Canadian Press on March 16, 2026.

LAVAL — A Superior Court judge has declared a man a high-risk offender after he was found not criminally responsible for killing two children when he drove a city bus into a Montreal-area daycare.

Justice Éric Downs ruled today in the case of Pierre Ny St-Amand, who killed a four-year-old boy and five-year-old girl and injured six other children on Feb. 8, 2023.

Last April, Downs ruled that St-Amand was not criminally responsible for the attack because he had likely been in psychosis when he crashed a city bus into a daycare in Laval, Que.

The Crown had sought a high-risk offender status for St-Amand, a designation that would impose stricter rules on him while he is detained at a psychiatric hospital.

St-Amand’s lawyers argued the status was unconstitutional and reinforced stereotypes against the mentally ill.

In a 103-page ruling, Downs says the Crown met its burden in having St-Amand declared a high-risk offender and upheld the constitutionality of the designation.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 16, 2026.

The Canadian Press