Laval daycare tragedy: one year later, the mystery persists

A year after the tragedy at the Laval daycare, we still don’t know what went through the mind of the bus driver that made him suddenly decide to rush into young children. And this mystery certainly adds to the collective incomprehension of this tragedy which cost the lives of two toddlers.

Employed by the Société de transport de Laval for around ten years at the time, Pierre Ny St-Amand has never publicly explained what happened in his head on February 8, 2023. The man 52-year-old had no known history of mental health and seemed to be happily married to his partner, who was due to get married the following month.

“We looked for meaning in all of this, but we quickly realized that there was none,” explains Madjid Meghari, father of two children who still attend daycare. It’s hard to accept that there isn’t a reason. That it happened on your child’s daycare just because it was on that man’s path.”

According to Steve Geoffrion, psychoeducator and co-director of the Center for the Study of Trauma, it is completely normal and human to want to make sense of this kind of tragedy.

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“Because if you’re not able to do that, life becomes unpredictable, humans become unpredictable, so your sense of security doesn’t come back. You always live with hypervigilance.”

However, the expert specifies that understanding the reasons for such a gesture does not necessarily mean that the acceptance process will be easier.

Preliminary investigation in March

Pierre Ny St-Amand, himself the father of two little girls, must return to court on March 25 to undergo his preliminary investigation at the Saint-Jérôme courthouse.

Since his arrest in February 2023, the alleged killer has almost always been detained at the Philippe-Pinel National Institute of Forensic Psychiatry.

Several witnesses will be called to testify, including parents of children, an investigator, a psychiatrist and relatives of the accused. This stage of the legal process ensures that the available evidence is sufficient for a trial to take place.

The suspect alone traumatized dozens of children, like little Chloé, 3, who had to undergo sound desensitization therapy.

In addition to Jacob and Maëva, who tragically died that day, other children suffered serious physical injuries. This is the case of little Jules, now 5 years old, who had to be hospitalized for eight days due to a burst bladder, internal bleeding and pneumothorax.

A little bit of light

But through the pain, a few stories imbued with light stand out. This is particularly the case of two dads who acted as true heroes by controlling the suspect and freeing children trapped under the bus. The two men are now inseparable.

What’s more, for the first time since the tragedy, an educator breaks the silence and tells the Newspaper the way she and her colleagues did everything they could to erect a protective barrier around the children to protect them as much as possible from the terrible chaos that had befallen their daycare.

– With Laurent Lavoie.