No proof Laval students killed magician’s dog
A Quebec magician has lost his lawsuit against a Laval elementary school where his pet Yorkshire terrier was crushed to death after a performance. A judge ruled it’s impossible to know for sure if students are to blame for the dog ’s death.
In October 2016, magician Domenico Gatto, who goes by the name Domagie the magician, was performing before roughly 220 students gathered in the auditorium at École Socrates-Démosthène.
Gatto was hired to perform a 45-minute set for the school’s Halloween festivities. One of his magic tricks, which he’s performed for more than 20 years, consisted of him making three doves disappear and turn into a small dog — his eight-year-old Yorkshire terrier, Bijou.
The trick went off without a hitch. Gatto then placed Bijou in his travelling carrier and set the dog aside to continue his performance.
Following his act, the magician noticed some of the children lingering by the dog while he gathered his belongings. He asked them to stay away.
Around the same time, Gatto says, he heard the children debating whether the dog was real and truly alive. Shortly after, he noticed the carrier had been slightly flattened. He rushed over and found the dog unresponsive and not moving.
Gatto took the carrier and distanced himself from the crowd. When he opened it, blood dripped to the ground. Bijou was visibly dead.
Panicked, Gatto asked teachers if they had witnessed anything, but no one had. He says he called police but was told there was nothing to do since the children were too young.
In mid-2017, he sued the school in small claims court for $15,000, arguing it was responsible for surveilling the students under its watch. There were 13 teachers and 15 parents present during his performance. The school denied any responsibility for the incident.
A judge ruled against Gatto last month.
“It is certain that all the children attending the show are minors who are entrusted to the school’s authority,” Judge Yvan Nolet wrote in his five-page decision. “The problem is that no child has been identified as being responsible for a particular act regarding the dog and even less so of a wrongdoing.”
Given there were no witnesses and that Gatto didn’t have an autopsy performed on the dog, Nolet ruled it was impossible to know for sure how it died.
The judge also noted conflicting accounts of what happened. While testifying, Gatto said he placed the carrier two or three feet away from him. Another witness said it was thrown eight or 10 feet away, which Gatto denies.
Nolet said the court understands the “pain and sorrow” Gatto felt after the death, but found there wasn’t enough evidence to show any of the children were at fault. The judge also questioned why there was no reaction from other students if one did, in fact, crush the carrier with the dog inside.
On Wednesday, Gatto, 51, said he’s disappointed with the outcome but respects the judge’s ruling. He still questioned how his dog could die in its carrier without there being anyone held responsible.
What he wanted most from the proceedings, he said, was to know exactly what happened to Bijou and “whether it was an accident or an incident.”
He didn’t get those answers. “In 30 years, myself and all other magicians have never seen something like this happen,” he said.
Gatto has since found another dog for his performances, he said, but Bijou was also his family ’s pet.
“I still miss the dog,” he said, “but I have to turn the page.”