MONTREAL — The Quebec man found not criminally responsible for killing two children after he drove a city bus into a Montreal-area daycare has been labelled a high-risk offender.
Superior Court Justice Éric Downs issued the ruling on Monday for 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.
“The court grants the prosecutor’s request: it designates the accused as high-risk under the Criminal Code,” Downs said at the courthouse in Laval, Que., Montreal’s northern suburb.
“On the one hand, there is a marked probability that the accused will use violence in a manner that endangers the life or safety of another person; on the other hand, the acts that gave rise to the offences are of such a brutal nature that there is a risk of serious physical or psychological harm to another person.”
The high-risk status prevents St-Amand from leaving the psychiatric hospital where he is being detained except for medical reasons or for the purposes of his treatment. It also limits the decisions that the province’s mental health review board can make in his case. Any changes to his treatment plan or to the restrictions of his movements would need to be put before the Quebec Superior Court.
Last April, Downs ruled that St-Amand was not criminally responsible for the attack because the former city bus driver had likely been in psychosis when he crashed the vehicle into a Laval daycare.
The Crown had sought a high-risk offender status for St-Amand. His lawyers, meanwhile, argued the status was unconstitutional and reinforced stereotypes against the mentally ill. They had challenged the designation using three sections of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
In his 103-page ruling on Monday,Downs upheld the constitutionality of the designation.
“The court remains aware that this is a restrictive regime for the rights of certain defendants found not criminally responsible,” Downs said. “In any event, the court finds no violation of the constitutional rights invoked.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 16, 2026.
Sidhartha Banerjee, The Canadian Press
