The man accused of killing two 4-year-old children by ramming his bus into a daycare last February will undergo his preliminary investigation next March.
• Read also: Laval tragedy: the cause of Pierre Ny St-Amand postponed again
• Read also: Seven months after the Laval tragedy, line 151 resumes its normal route
Pierre Ny St-Amand participated in the hearing this morning by videoconference, live from the National Institute of Forensic Psychiatry Philippe-Pinel, where he is detained.
He is being tried in connection with a tragedy that occurred on February 8. Then a driver for the Société de transport de Laval, he allegedly drove head-on into a daycare in the Sainte-Rose district of Laval. Two children were killed, while six others were injured.
He then allegedly stripped naked before being restrained by parents at the scene.
Witnesses present at the time of the tragedy will also be heard during the preliminary investigation, which will take place on March 25, announced the Crown prosecutor in the case, Ms.e Karine Dalphond.
Relatives will testify
An investigator will also testify, as will a psychologist and a psychiatrist. A psychiatric evaluation was actually produced earlier this year, but it is currently sealed by the court.
Relatives of the accused are also expected to take the witness stand.
The preliminary investigation is not a trial, but rather a stage of the legal process which makes it possible to establish whether the evidence is sufficient to hold a trial.
Me Julien Lspérance-Hudon, who represents Pierre Ny St-Amand, believes that nothing in the evidence suggests that the crime, if it was indeed committed by the accused, was premeditated.
Four days are planned to hear all the witnesses, the parties informed Judge Sandra Blanchard this morning at the Laval courthouse. The preliminary investigation will be held in Saint-Jérôme.