FREDERIC SERRE
The 1019 Report

Fabio Puglisi, the 45-year-old Vaudreuil-Dorion man who two months ago was found not criminally responsible for killing his mother and a neighbour and seriously injuring a third woman during a violent knife attack inside a Vaudreuil condo building last year, has been designated a high-risk offender and will never be released from the Philippe Pinel pyschiatric hospital, where he is being held.

The decision was made by Quebec Superior Court Judge Alexandre Bien-Aimé on July 7 at the Valleyfield courthouse. Bien-Aimé said Puglisi represents a threat to society if he is released because of his mental illness and violent outbursts. Bien-Aimé is the same judge who on May 12 ruled Puglisi wasn’t responsible for the killings due to his mental illness, adding that he suffers from schizophrenia, which causes him to be unpredictable and violent.

On the afternoon of Feb. 15, 2024, Puglisi murdered his mother, Elisabetta Caucci-Puglisi, 68, and neighbour, Manon Blanchard, 53. Evidence presented in court revealed that Puglisi stabbed his mother more than a dozen times inside their sixth-floor apartment before attacking Blanchard, who was killed when she knocked on the door of Caucci-Puglisi’s condo to let her know that her dog was running loose in the hallway. After killing both women, Puglisi fled into the hallway, where he stabbed and severely injured 70-year-old Nighat Imtiaz.

Puglisi has a long history of mental illness and assaults. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2012 after being charged with assaulting a complete stranger. He was also charged with assaulting a woman and held in a psychiatric institution for several weeks. While being monitored by a CLSC, it was learned that Puglisi had stopped taking his medication while still living with his mother.