A 44-year-old man has been charged with second-degree murder in connection with a knife attack that left two women dead and a third injured west of Montreal.
Fabio Puglisi appeared by teleconference at the Valleyfield courthouse Friday. He appeared alert but also confused, and both his hands were bandaged.
Puglisi was charged with two counts of second-degree murder, one count of attempted murder and one count of aggravated assault.
The charges came one day after Quebec provincial police arrested him at the scene of the stabbings inside a condo tower in Vaudreuil-Dorion, just off the western tip of Montreal. Officers were called to the off-island suburb shortly before noon Thursday.
Police say the victims are the man’s 68-year-old mother and a 53-year-old neighbour. Quebec’s Crown prosecutors’ office identified them as Elisabetta Caucci-Puglisi and Manon Blanchard.
A 70-year-old woman who was taken to hospital with serious injuries is now considered stable, according to police. Puglisi has been ordered not to contact the victim or her family.
Puglisi will undergo a five-day psychiatric evaluation to see if he is fit to stand trial, a request that was made by his defence lawyer Alexandre Dubé. He is expected back in court next week.
“If he’s fit, we will decide on the next steps afterwards,” Dubé said. “If he’s not fit, then we will ask for treatment.”
Not criminally responsible in past cases
Court documents show Puglisi has a history of mental health issues and has twice been found not criminally responsible for crimes in 2012 and 2020.
The first involved charges of assault with a weapon, dangerous driving and hit-and-run stemming from a 2011 road-rage incident on a highway in Montreal. A mental-health review decision described it as “an attack on a motorist on the highway in a paranoid delusional experience.”
The second was a 2018 fraud case involving the sale of a fake work of art attributed to celebrated Quebec artist Jean-Paul Riopelle.
In October 2020, Quebec’s mental-health review board deemed Puglisi did not represent a risk to public safety and was released without condition. At that time, his mental state was considered stable, no violence was reported and he lived with his mother, to whom he provided care. The commission also found he was well supported by family.
The reports noted Puglisi’s psychiatric history dates back to 2007, with a diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder.
More recently, court records show Puglisi was charged after he allegedly assaulted a woman with whom he had no connection in Vaudreuil-Dorion on Nov. 16, 2023. He was due in court last week in that case.
Dr. Patrick Baillie, a forensic psychologist and lawyer based in Calgary, said that review boards typically do a good job in their evaluations when it comes to individuals who are not found criminally responsible. They take care to balance public safety and the individual’s rights.
He explained the “recidivism rate of people getting into trouble again down the road after being found (not criminally responsible) is lower than for individuals coming out of custodial facilities of jails and penitentiaries.”
Baillie said the province’s coroner’s officer can order a fatality inquiry since two women were killed. Such an inquiry looks at ways to improve the system, but to “also reduce the likelihood of this sort of thing happening in future.”
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“We know that review boards typically do a good job, but it’s an opportunity to take a look and see whether or not there might have been some warning signs that were missed in this case,” Baillie said.
Condolences pour in from Vaudreuil
The triple stabbing has left the community in shock. One neighbour said Puglisi suffered from mental health issues and police had previously been called to the home.
Vaudreuil-Dorion resident Jeff Stephen said he didn’t know the accused well, but said Puglisi was friendly and often would wave to him.
His mother Elisabetta Caucci-Puglisi was a “lovely lady,” he added.
“When I heard the news, I couldn’t believe that it was Fabio,” Stephen said in an interview with Global News on Friday.
Vaudreuil-Dorion Mayor Guy Pilon said his thoughts are with the victims and their families, but also with the citizens who live in the same apartment complexe.
“Such a tragedy reminds us that we are not immune to human tragedies, even if we live in a community where we advocate tolerance and mutual aid,” he wrote on Facebook.
— with files from Global’s Mike Armstrong and The Canadian Press
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