A coroner says a Quebec father caused a head-on collision intentionally last March, killing two of his four children while taking his own life. A Quebec provincial police emblem is seen on an officer’s uniform in Montreal, Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi
MONTREAL – A coroner says a Quebec father intentionally caused a head-on collision in March that killed two of his four children and himself.
Coroner Donald Nicole concludes in his report today that the 42-year-old father died by suicide and the deaths of his two children – a 12-year-old boy and four-year-old girl – were homicides.
Nicole says the family minivan was going 135 kilometres per hour and there was no attempt to brake when the vehicle swerved into oncoming traffic and hit the truck head-on.
The coroner attributes the crash to the father’s psychological distress, but he adds that police found no evidence that the father showed signs of suicidal ideation or psychological distress in the lead up to the homicides.
Emergency services were dispatched to the scene on the afternoon of March 15 on Highway 112 in the small municipality of St-Frederic, about an hour’s drive south of Quebec City.
The minivan was carrying a family of six from Adstock, Que., and two children and their mother survived the crash, while the five people in the truck were not injured.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2023.
