Court tosses magician’s suit

Canine assistant crushed during show at school

MONTREAL • A Quebec magician has lost his lawsuit against an elementary school where his pet Yorkshire Terrier was crushed to death after a performance because a judge ruled it’s impossible to know whether the students are to blame.

In October 2016, Domenico Gatto, who goes by the name Domagie the magician, was performing before roughly 220 students gathered in the auditorium at École Socrates-Démosthène in Laval.

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-yearold 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. Shortly after, he noticed the carrier had been slightly flattened. He rushed over and found the dog 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 to face charges.

In mid-2017, he sued the school in small claims court for $15,000, arguing it was responsible for watching the students under its care. There were 13 teachers and 15 parents present during his performance. The school denied any responsibility.

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.

THE PROBLEM IS THAT NO CHILD HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED AS BEING RESPONSIBLE.