A Quebec court observed with a mixture of tears and horrified silence on Monday when a video was shown when an urban bus got into a nursery in the Montreal area, killing two children and wounding six more.
The video, filmed by cameras inside the bus, shows the clash from the perspective of the driver Pierre Ny St-amand while turning hard on the entrance path of the nursery and accelerated, the accelerated engines, on the side of the building.
The video is cut after the impact, and in the court room the sound of the crying broke the silence.
Ny St-Amand, 53, was arrested after the bus he was driving crashed into the nursery front on February 8, 2023, killing a four-year-old boy and a five-year-old girl. It faces two second -degree murder positions, as well as assault charges with a weapon and an assault that cause body damage in relation to six other children who were injured.
Both the crown and the defense have told the Judge of the Superior Court of Quebec that it should not be found that it is not criminally responsible for its actions.
Prosecutor Karine Dalphond told the Court in February that the crown and defense would present the facts of the case of NY ST-AMAND jointly, after two experts concluded independently that it should not be considered criminally responsible due to a mental disorder.
Ny St-Amand, who wore a gray sweater and appeared with his sponge hands in front of him, saw calmly on Monday as a video of the accident reproduced on a television suspended from the roof. Previously, when the trial was opened, he stopped when the charges were read and, in a low voice, confirmed his non -guilty.
In a summary of the facts read by a prosecutor, the court heard that Ny St-Amand never hit the brakes while heading on the entrance path.
Instead, he accelerated. “Once in a straight line in the parking lot, it accelerates to the west side of the building,” said the prosecutor.
The first hours of the trial gave few indications of what led the accused to commit his alleged act. An automatic system had assigned the bus route and had not requested it, according to the court. A video of the bus cameras, taken earlier in the morning of the accident, showed NY St-amand picking up and leaving passengers in a normal way.
After the accident, Ny St-Amand stopped inside the shattered bus and took off his pants, underwear and boots, speaking and screaming incoherently. He was seized by two parents, who held it until the police arrived, according to the declaration of events.
The trial is expected to last a few days and will include a detailed count of the facts and the testimony of the two psychiatric experts that concluded that it should not be considered criminally responsible for their actions.
The Judge of the Superior Court, Eric Downs, presides over the hearings and will make the final decision on the criminal responsibility of NY ST-AMAND.
Some of the people who had been present at the accident told journalists outside the courtroom on Monday that the trial had been difficult to see.
Mike Haddad, one of the parents who helped suspect the suspect, said it was worrying to see the video and reaction of the suspect.
“Seeing the defendant without remorse or nothing in his eyes, it is shocking,” he said. He added that the probable verdict of non -criminally responsible was “difficult to accept” for families.
“If this person who should go to prison is not, who should?” said.
