MONTREAL — A man who stabbed his mother and a neighbour to death last year in a suburb west of Montreal was found not criminally responsible earlier this week of the murder charges, with the Crown expected to seek a high-risk designation for him.
A Superior Court judge issued the written decision on Monday in the case of 45-year-old Fabio Puglisi, who also seriously injured a third person during a stabbing attack in Vaudreuil, Que., on Feb. 15, 2024.
Puglisi was charged with second-degree murder in the killings of his 68-year-old mother Elisabetta Puglisi-Caucci and 53-year-old Manon Blanchard, who had lived in the same condo tower as the mother and son. He was also charged with attempted murder in an attack on a 70-year-old woman who survived.
During a hearing on May 8, the Crown and defence jointly recommended that Puglisi be found not criminally responsible by way of mental disorder. Justice Alexandre Bien-Aimé agreed in a ruling handed down in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Que., west of Montreal.
"The court cannot but conclude that Mr. Puglisi was, at the time of the events, deprived of the capacity to rationally decide whether attacking the victims was morally wrong, and, consequently, to make the rational choice to act in that way," Bien-Aimé wrote.
"Mr. Puglisi cannot, therefore, in these circumstances, be held criminally responsible for the murders of Ms. Caucci and Ms. Blanchard, or for the attack on (the third victim), even if the evidence clearly establishes that he was the perpetrator."
Puglisi stabbed his mother 16 times; he stabbed his neighbour 12 times. Blanchard had knocked on the mother and son's unit to tell them their dog was loose in the hallway, and was pulled into the home by Puglisi.
Toxicological reports found that Puglisi's blood did not have detectable traces of medications that had been prescribed to him to stabilize his behaviour. The judge's ruling says his family and his case-management team had said Puglisi was not taking his medication for many weeks prior to the attack.
"It is therefore not surprising that his mental state deteriorated during this period and that he was experiencing numerous psychotic symptoms on the day of the events," the judge wrote.
Puglisi had suffered psychiatric episodes spanning more than a decade. His family noted that his mental health began to deteriorate around 2010. In 2012, he was evaluated by doctors after assaulting a stranger, and was monitored by a Montreal hospital until 2019. In June 2020, he was evaluated again after he was charged for attempting to sell a fake Jean-Paul Riopelle painting, and was monitored by a hospital until 2022.
His mental health began to deteriorate again at the end of 2023. On Nov. 15, 2023, his mother called police because Puglisi was making incoherent remarks about God. But he wasn't taken to hospital, and the next day he assaulted a woman on the street and identified himself as "Jesus."
He was diagnosed with bipolar schizoaffective disorder and was released from hospital in mid-December 2023. Not long after, he began to show instability again and by Feb. 1, Puglisi's mother reported he was no longer stable. The judge said Puglisi's mother had confided in a nurse that her son needed a psychiatrist.
"The nurse informed her that the team could not treat him against his will in the circumstances and told her not to hesitate to call emergency services if she notes any danger to herself, her son, or others," the ruling reads.
Puglisi has been held at a Montreal psychiatric hospital since his arrest for the stabbings, and has been receiving antipsychotic treatments for more than a year, the judge said.
"His mental state has improved in some respects, but remains disturbed. Indeed, even during the court hearing, Mr. Puglisi continued to falsely claim that he had no choice but to act as he did," the judge wrote.
Puglisi's case returns to court on June 20. The Crown has said it will seek to have him declared a high-risk offender, which would restrict his movement at the psychiatric hospital.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 13, 2025.
Sidhartha Banerjee, The Canadian Press
