MONTREAL – A panel of experts decided Wednesday that Guy Turcotte will be released from the psychiatric hospital where he has been held since being accused of killing his two children.
Turcotte has left the Philippe Pinel Institute 80 times in the past six months and now just wants to lead a normal life.
“I don’t think it’s possible with what happened,” Turcotte told a panel Wednesday that will decide whether he should be released.
“I would like to accomplish more and do better, but it’s not easy.”
Turcotte, who was found not criminally responsible in 2011 for stabbing his two young children to death, said that if released from Pinel, he’ll continue his psychotherapy.
“I want to do it and I will do it,” he said.
He said he thinks every Quebecer could benefit from psychotherapy.
Turcotte, 40, has been housed at Pinel since the July 2011 verdict, but since June has been able to leave either accompanied by someone or alone.
He’s done some volunteer work but has been turned down by several organizations because of his name.
The outings caused some anxiety, he said, because of public outrage over his verdict.
“The challenge will be to manage the public,” he said about the possibility of release.
“There are people who think all kinds of things about me, rightly or wrongly.”
Isabelle Gaston, Turcotte’s ex-wife, said she’s afraid for her safety and claims Turcotte is telling the panel what it wants to hear.
“If he’s just making up a story and comes after me, who’s going to be responsible?” she said outside the hearing.
“If he doesn’t integrate into society well, I’m afraid he’ll get mad and come after me.
“I feel like they’re not getting the full picture”
Turcotte told the panel he has been around children of all ages during his outings.
“I wasn’t shaken by that,” he said. “Sure, it brought up memories and that made me sad.”
Pierre Rochette, the psychiatrist overseeing Turcotte’s treatment, said he wouldn’t object to Turcotte being released and being treated as an out patient at another hospital.
“I don’t see any immediate or medium term danger,” he told the three-member panel.
“I’m satisfied with his progress up to now.”
Turcotte told the panel he has left the institution every day for the past five weeks.
“I found it more and more difficult to come back,” he said in a soft voice. “It’s more constrained and it was painful to be with other patients.”
Olivier, 5, and Anne Sophie, 3, were stabbed numerous times in their beds after Turcotte, depressed by the breakup of his marriage, drank windshield wiper fluid.
Pierre Rochette, a psychiatrist overseeing Turcotte’s rehabilitation at the Philippe Pinel Institute, told the panel he thinks Turcotte should be freed and continue treatment as an outpatient.
Turcotte is willing to open up about his mental health and the deaths of his children, Rochette said.
The psychiatrist is testifying at a three-day hearing before the mental-health panel that must weigh when and if Turcotte is ready to return to society.
Turcotte was granted limited release from the psychiatric hospital within the last year although he was ordered to reside there because his refusal to discuss the killings of his son and daughter left his mental state as a bit of a mystery to the experts evaluating him.
In 2011, a jury found him not criminally responsible for his actions in the slayings.
Turcotte was interned at Pinel until the mental health advisory panel held hearings to determine his fate.
As the hearing wrapped up Wednesday, Turcotte’s lawyer argued that his client poses absolutely no danger to society and therefore should be released without conditions.
But Guy Poupart said that if conditions are imposed, Turcotte would respect them.
“He’s on this road now and wants to continue,” Poupart told the three-member panel.
Caroline Lafleur, the lawyer representing the Crown, said the panel must be cautious about freeing Turcotte completely.
“This has to be taken step by step,” she said.
The panel is deliberating now and expected back at 4:30.
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