The man accused of killing two 4-year-old children by ramming his bus into a daycare center last February will face an investigation next March.
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Pierre Ny St-Amand attended the hearing this morning via videoconference live from the Philippe-Pinel National Institute of Forensic Psychiatry, where he is detained.
He is being tried in connection with a tragedy on February 8th. At that time he was a driver for the Société de transport de Laval and is said to have driven head-on into a daycare center in the Sainte-Rose district of Laval. Two children were killed and six others were injured.
He is then said to have stripped naked before being held at the scene by his parents.
Witnesses who were present at the time of the tragedy will also be heard during the preliminary inquest, which will take place on March 25, announced the Crown prosecutor in the case, Me Karine Dalphond.
Relatives will testify
An investigator will also testify, as will a psychologist and a psychiatrist. A psychiatric report was actually prepared earlier this year, but is currently sealed by the court.
Relatives of the defendant are also expected to appear as witnesses.
The preliminary investigation is not a trial, but a stage of the legal process that makes it possible to determine whether the evidence is sufficient to hold a trial.
Julien Lspérance-Hudon, representing Pierre Ny St-Amand, believes that nothing in the evidence suggests that the crime, if indeed committed by the defendant, was premeditated.
Four days are planned for the hearing of all witnesses, the parties told Judge Sandra Blanchard this morning at the Laval courthouse. The preliminary examination will take place in Saint-Jérôme.
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